Girl Hurt as Gaza Rocket Explodes Near Kibbutz Kindergarten - Hamas Dug Tunnels for Shalit-Type Attack

Gaza terror squads fired a short-range Kassam-type rocket at an Israeli kibbutz Tuesday morning, lightly injuring a 15-year-old girl. Shrapnel from the explosion struck the girl's leg. A Magen David Adom emergency crew evacuated her to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

Two people suffered emotional shock from the event. Several buildings in the kibbutz were damaged.

The head of the Hof Ashkelon local authority, Yair Farjun, said following the attack that "the continued fire endangers our lives and disrupts life's routine. 

I believe in the ability of the IDF to carry out the necessary actions in order to stop the fire. On our part, we will continue to take security precautions to the extent this is possible." 

The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) cooperated overnight in attacks by IAF aircraft on several targets in Gaza. Among the targets attacked were three terror tunnels in northern Gaza. In the southern part of the border, the IAF attacks struck a terror tunnel, a smuggling tunnel and a third site of unspecified terror activity.

The IDF said that the tunnels attacked were meant to enable terrorists to cross into Israel and carry out terror attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. A similar tunnel served the terrorists who killed two soldiers at Kerem Shalom in 2006 and kidnapped a third - Gilad Shalit.

The IAF strikes on the night between Monday and Tuesday preempted attempts by terrorists to insert terror squads into Israel in the vicinity of Sderot, Ashkelon, the Karni crossing and the Kerem Shalom crossing. The IDF terms this type of tunnel "attack tunnels."

The IAF attacked seven targets - the largest number of targets hit in one night in recent months.
One of the tunnels was supposed to allow terrorists into Israel near Netiv HaAsara, and another near Miflasim and Kfar 'Aza. These could have served for staging attacks against Israeli civilians. The two other tunnels could have served for attacks on IDF soldiers, like the one in which Gilad Shalit was abducted and two soldiers killed, near Kerem Shalom in 2006. Terrorists abducted Shalit through a tunnel into Gaza.
The IAF also attacked a smuggling tunnel near Rafiah, a site for manufacturing weapons near Khan Yunes, and a Hamas outpost west of Khan Yunes. Two terrorists were hurt in that attack.
All IDF planes returned safely to base and precise hits on target were reported.