Gaza has been devastated by three conflicts between Israel and its Hamas rulers and other Palestinian factions since 2008, and reconstruction has been painstakingly slow amid an Israeli blockade on all imports that could have military purposes.
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Palestinian sources reported that a woman in her 50s was killed Thursday evening in the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis as a result of retaliatory tank fire.
Israeli aircraft earlier targeted four Hamas positions in the vicinity of the tunnel, the military said.
Palestinian media reported that one female was killed by the Israeli military’s fire in southern Gaza Strip, and several others have been injured.
It said there had been 10 incidents of Palestinian mortar and gun attacks on Israeli forces near the border since Wednesday and that it had responded with air raids and shelling.
Since the discovery of the first attack tunnel last month, the IDF and the Israeli government have stressed there are no indications of an imminent large-scale conflict with the Hamas terrorist organization.
Israel launched four airstrikes early on Thursday targeting Hamas training camps after accusing Hamas of firing “more than five mortar rounds at forces during operational activities adjacent to the security fence with the Gaza Strip”.
“Israel has no interest in escalation whatsoever”, Lerner added.
Hamas leaders, while stressing they do not seek an imminent war, see tunnels as a strategic weapon in any armed confrontation with Israel and have vowed not to stop building them.
Also Thursday, Israel Defense Forces troops discovered a tunnel extending from Gaza into Israel, the second in weeks.
Violence erupted along the Israel-Gaza border on Wednesday as Israeli forces and Palestinian militants exchanged fire and Israeli war jets bombed targets in the enclave, ruled by the Islamist Hamas group.
Workshop owner Hassan Hassanin said his well-digging truck, which he said was only one in Gaza that can reach a depth of 37 metres (121 feet), was hit. On the Israeli side, 66 soldiers and seven civilians were killed.
Mahmud Atawnah, 29, from Jabalia area of northern Gaza, was captured at the beginning of April after crossing the border fence into Israel, the Shin Bet security service said in a statement.
The tunnel was uncovered as part of extensive counterterror efforts of the IDF that have taken place since Operation Protective Edge, the army said in a statement. The army said no soldiers were harmed.
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The recent flare-up has raised concerns over the fate of an Egypt-brokered truce deal between Hamas and Tel Aviv that put an end to the 2014 Israeli military campaign, and has since been largely holding. Israel says it holds Hamas responsible for any attacks from the territory.
