21 Dec 2010
Israeli jets have carried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip, injuring at least two Palestinian militants, doctors say.
It follows a strike on Saturday in which which killed five militants.  |
| Rocket fire from Gaza has dropped sharply since 2008 |
BBC Gaza correspondent, Jon Donnison, says there has been a recent rise in tension along the Gaza-Israel border in recent weeks.
Israel says its latest air strikes targeted tunnels, a Hamas training centre and a weapons factory in Gaza.
The rockets fired by Palestinian militant groups into Israel rarely cause injury or damage, but they do cause widespread fear.
They are not fired by Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza, but by smaller militant groups. Nevertheless Israel says Hamas is responsible because it controls the territory.
The Israeli military says the air strikes were in retaliation for the firing of 13 rockets and mortars at Israel this week.
Israel Radio says the rocket fired by Gaza militants on Tuesday landed near a nursery school. No serious injuries were reported.
This week Israel announced it was upgrading its tank force along the Gaza border.
It is almost two years since the war in Gaza which left 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead. Few analysts here believe another war is imminent but many believe it will happen eventually, our correspondent says.
The United Nations says that in 2010, 55 Palestinians, including 22 civilians, have been killed by Israeli military action in Gaza.
The UN says over 200 Palestinians have been injured in the same period.
In the past 18 months one person in Israel, a Thai farm worker, has been killed by a rocket fired from Gaza.
According to Israeli Defence Force figures, 180 rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel by militants in 2010.
