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GAZA CITY: Israel continued its offensive in southern Gaza on Thursday, as warplanes carried out threatened new strikes on suspected arms-smuggling tunnels in Rafah, on the Egyptian border, witnesses said.
Bombing also continued in the north of the densely populated coastal strip, with three people hurt when Al-Taqwa mosque was destroyed in an air strike in Gaza City late Wednesday, medics said.
In Rafah, warplanes hit a house and a suspected tunnel in an open area near the Egyptian border around 1:00 am (2300 GMT Wednesday), witnesses said.
And four missiles struck open ground shortly after 3:00 am, they added. The army confirmed that strikes were taking place in Rafah. There were no reports of casualties.
On Wednesday afternoon, Israeli planes dropped tens of thousands of leaflets on the Rafah area, warning people to leave their houses or face air strikes.
People were told that they could return to their homes at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) on Thursday.
The Rafah area is criss-crossed by what the Israeli army estimates to be some 300 tunnels and what local residents have told AFP are 500 subterranean passages from Gaza into Egypt.
They are used to smuggle supplies and arms into Gaza, an impoverished enclave that Israel has virtually locked down since Hamas seized power in June 2007.
Ending the smuggling is a key element of the ceasefire plan proposed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Meanwhile, witnesses reported that Israeli tanks had entered southern Gaza, but the army would neither confirm nor deny the claim.
There were also reports that there had been three air strikes on open areas near the southern city of Khan Yunis and several in northern Gaza.
Just before dawn, witnesses said, an air strike destroyed the home of Mohammed al-Sinwar, a senior commander of Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, in Khan Yunis. No casualties were reported.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak had been given the green light by Israel's security cabinet on Wednesday to order a deeper offensive into Gaza as part of the campaign to halt Hamas cross-border rocket attacks.
But he also decided to send an envoy to Cairo on Thursday to get details on an Egyptian ceasefire plan, which secured widespread international backing amid mounting concern about the scale of the civilian casualties.
Israeli shelling and air attacks around Gaza City were halted for three hours on Wednesday afternoon as a humanitarian gesture. Hamas also halted rocket attacks.
People and cars quickly filled the streets of Gaza City and long queues formed outside bakeries which soon ran out of bread. Aid groups sent dozens of truckloads of food and fuel across the border during the truce.
But the fighting quickly resumed, inflicting new deaths.
A man, his three sons and a nephew were killed in one attack at the Jabaliya refugee camp and an air strike killed two men in Khan Yunis on Wednesday night, medics said. Witnesses said the pair belonged to Hamas.
And Islamic Jihad said warplanes destroyed the homes of three of its military commanders, without causing casualties.
The Israeli offensive, which began on December 27, has so far killed 702 Palestinians and wounded 3,100, according to Gaza medics.
Hundreds of Hamas rockets fired into Israel over the past 12 days have killed four people, including an Israeli soldier, and wounded dozens. Six Israeli soldiers have died in combat.
- AFP/yb
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