At least 17 people were wounded early Wednesday in a pair of airstrikes launched by the Israel Defense Forces in retaliation for mortar shells fired into Israel from Gaza.
No injuries were reported in an airstrike near Gaza International Airport in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Hamas police said, but a medical source at Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in northern Gaza said 17 people were wounded in a second strike in the city of Beit Hanoun in the northeast of Gaza.
Five of the injured were militants and two of the 17 were critically wounded, the source said.
The IDF said the airstrikes targeted two tunnels used by militants. Both were a kilometer away from the security fence that separates Israel and Gaza. The strikes, the IDF said, were "in response to the firing of two mortar shells" into Israel.