GAZA CITY: Israel carried out two air strikes on Gaza during the night, seriously wounding a 15-year-old and another person, Palestinian medical sources said on Wednesday.
Emergency services said the pair were wounded in a raid on Beit Hanun in the north. A second sortie against Rafah in the south did not cause any casualties.
The Israeli military confirmed the raids.
"The Israel air force struck a terror tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip and a terror tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip overnight," the army said.
"The tunnels were dug one kilometer (less than a mile) from the security fence and were intended for infiltrating into Israel and executing terror attacks."
The army said the raids were also in response to the firing of two mortar rounds into southern Israel. Neither caused any casualties or damage.
Army statistics show militants have fired around 50 rockets or mortar rounds into Israel so far this year.
Also on Tuesday, Palestinian militants detonated a booby-trapped donkey cart near Gaza’s northern border with Israel but again caused no casualties or damage.
The blast took place along the section of the border that flanks the Israeli moshav, or cooperative village, of Netiv HaAsara, near the Erez crossing.
In recent months, there has been an increasing number of incidents along the border, where Israel has imposed a crippling blockade since the seizure of Gaza by the Islamist Hamas movement in 2007.
Israel launched a devastating assault on Gaza in December 2008 aimed at halting rocket fire. Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the 22-day Operation Cast Lead.
Since then, the number of rockets fired into Israel from Gaza has fallen significantly.
