At least one Palestinian was killed and two injured in an Israeli airstrike on smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza along the border with Egypt, medical sources at the hospital in the border town of Rafah said.
The sources said at least one Palestinian was still missing.
An Israeli army spokeswoman meanwhile Sunday confirmed that Israeli air forces had struck three targets the previous night, in retaliation for attacks by Palestinian militants last week. The spokeswoman said the militants were using the tunnels to smuggle arms.
Hours before the Israeli warplanes struck, Gaza militants had fired a rocket into southern Israel. Since the beginning of the year, militants have fired more than 100 rockets and mortars on Israel, according to the army.
In two attacks by Palestinian militants earlier in the week, four Israeli settlers were killed and two people were injured. The military wing of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The latest violence coincides with the first direct peace talks in nearly two years between Israel and the Palestinians in Washington. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are aiming, despite resistance within their own camps, to secure a peace deal within a year.
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