Israeli Planes Strike Targets In Gaza

Israeli planes strike targets in Gaza

http://www.reuters.com/article/lates...LL86762?rpc=60

11/20/2009

GAZA STRIP, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Israeli planes carried out air strikes against targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, injuring seven Palestinians, Palestinian medical workers said.

An army spokesman said one of the strikes, which occurred hours after a rocket fired from the Hamas-run enclave landed in Israel, had targeted a factory in central Gaza used to make weapons. Palestinians said the target was a metal foundry.

Palestinian medical workers and witnesses said other targets included a caravan in the northern Gaza Strip and smuggling tunnels in the south under the border with Egypt.

The attacks occurred one day after Hamas said it had reached an agreement with smaller armed groups in the territory to halt sporadic rocket fire towards Israel, which often responds with air strikes.

Israel launched a 22-day war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip almost a year ago with the aim of halting daily rocket fire.

Egypt has been trying to mediate a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas that would include the release of a captured Israeli soldier held in Gaza since 2006 in return for hundreds of Palestinians jailed in Israel.