The Israeli government is considering its response to an attack near a border crossing close to Gaza on Tuesday in which an Israeli soldier was killed and three other soldiers were wounded.
Palestinians detonated an explosive device while Israeli soldiers were patrolling the Israeli side of the Gaza Strip security fence.
The Israeli Air Force bombed three tunnels along the Gazan-Egyptian border on Tuesday night and targeted what Israel described as a terror operative who was involved in carrying out Tuesday’s attack.
Smuggling tunnels connecting Egypt and the Gaza Strip have been the economic lifeline of Gazans for the past three years, and especially since Hamas took over Gaza in June 2007.
The tunnels are used to smuggle anything from live cattle to cigarettes, but Israel says they are also applied to acquiring weapons and missiles and bringing in terrorists.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said bombing the tunnels was not the sole response to Tuesday’s attack.
“The response will come and it will be severe and not proportional,” Olmert said.
The renewed hostilities threaten to shatter a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas after Israel’s 22-day military offensive in Gaza.
Israel announced a unilateral cease-fire on January 17. A day later Hamas announced a cessation in its rocket firing.
A long-term sustainable cease-fire is still being discussed.
Germany is sending six experts to Egypt to help monitor arms trafficking across the Egyptian border with Gaza. Germany maintains that combating weapons smuggling is an important step in the path to a long-lasting cease-fire and opening of borders.
Meanwhile, just eight days after United States President Barack Obama took office, his envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, is arriving in the region.
Mitchell is arriving in the region for what is being described as a listening mission.
He is meeting with officials in Egypt, Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, and possibly Turkey and Saudi Arabia.