Israel has launched several air raids against targets in southern Gaza near the border with Egypt, causing damages but no injuries, Palestinian security sources have said.
The strikes targeted “open areas” near the town of Rafah and tunnels along the border with Egypt, residents said.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that the “Israeli air force intervened in the Gaza Strip,” late on Friday.
“Our planes attacked four tunnels that were dug under the border with Egypt and used for weapons smuggling,” the spokesman told AFP news agency.

CAIRO: A senior Palestinian official says Saudi Arabia has offered proposals to back Egyptian-led Palestinian reconciliation efforts crucial to forming a lasting cease-fire between Hamas and Israel.
The Palestinian representative to Egypt, Nabil Amr, says he’s not authorized to disclose the details about the proposals. But he says Arab ministers meeting Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates will discuss the Saudi proposals.
Egypt is leading these efforts between rival Palestinian factions — Hamas and Fatah. These efforts are key to the cease-fire and the revival of peace talks with Israel.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held talks here Monday morning with Palestinian National Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on Gaza situation and the long-stalled inter-Palestinian dialogue.
They discussed Egypt’s efforts to broker a long-time ceasefire in the war-torn Gaza between Israel and the Hamas-led Palestinian factions, as well as the opening of the Gaza border crossings to allow humanitarian aid into the enclave, said Egypt’s official MENA news agency.

Israel threatened more strikes against Hamas on Monday hours after aircraft bombed Gaza in response to new rocket fire from the Islamist-ruled enclave.
Israeli aircraft late on Sunday targeted an empty police station in central Gaza and some seven tunnels along the Gaza Strip’s southern border with Egypt, witnesses said.
The action came two weeks after the end of an Israeli offensive that devastated the impoverished territory and left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead.

Thousands of Palestinians have poured to the streets of Gaza to show their support for Hamas and its call for a new democratic authority.
Across the Gaza Strip, thousands took to the streets in support of Hamas and its leader Khalid Mashaal who called for the creation of an alternative representative authority to replace the Fatah-run Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Press TV’s correspondent Tarek al-Farra reported from Khan Younis on Saturday.
The protesters, who were chanting slogans in support of the resistance movement, waved Turkey’s red flag alongside green Hamas banners, after …

Israeli warplanes bombed a weapons production facility in Gaza on Thursday after militants fired a rocket at Israel, in violence that defied the efforts of a visiting U.S. peace envoy to reinforce a ceasefire.
There were no reports of injuries from the predawn Israeli strike in the town of Rafah, along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Witnesses and Hamas Islamists said a metal foundry was damaged.
Moments earlier, a militant group with links to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement claimed responsibility for firing a rocket at southern Israel late on Wednesday.

A senior European Union official touring war-torn Gaza has blamed the ruling militant movement Hamas for the humanitarian crisis there.
Humanitarian aid chief Louis Michel called the destruction left by Israel’s offensive “abominable”, but said Hamas bore “overwhelming responsibility”.
He said there would be no dialogue with the “terrorist” movement until it gave up violence and recognised Israel.
He also announced emergency aid for Gaza worth more than US $70m (£50m).

Israeli airstrikes have targeted the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt, as part of Israel’s response to an attack on one of its frontier patrols on Tuesday.
Residents near the town of Rafah fled as missiles hit tunnels through which Israel says militants smuggle arms.
The strikes came ahead of US envoy George Mitchell’s visit to promote a permanent Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
Both sides declared ceasefires on 17 and 18 January to end Israel’s three-week offensive on Gaza.

ELEANOR HALL: For the first time in almost a year the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have held talks aimed at reconciliation.
The discussions took place in Egypt on the sidelines of meetings to try to cement a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
While tensions between Fatah and Hamas increased during Israel’s three-week assault on Gaza, analysts say both sides privately recognise the need for some kind of unity government.

European Union foreign ministers meeting with their Arab counterparts in Brussels on Sunday called for the two rival Palestinian factions to unite to negotiate a lasting peace with Israel.
The European Union foreign ministers said it was critical that the rival Hamas and Fatah political factions reconcile, so the border crossings of the Gaza Strip can be opened for humanitarian and other assistance after three weeks of conflict with Israel.
European politicians said it is essential for the Palestinians to speak with a single voice.
Gaza medics say some 1,300 Palestinians were killed …