Israeli F16 warplanes on Saturday struck the borders between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt by air-to-ground missiles, wounding at least three Palestinians, medics and security sources said.

Sources with the Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement, which rules Gaza, said Israeli F16 warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes at the borderline between Rafah town in southern Gaza and Egypt, adding three civilians were wounded.

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the airstrikes on Rafah tunnels, adding that Israeli war jets struck three smuggling tunnels under the borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Meanwhile, Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein confirmed that three Rafah residents were injured after Israeli warplanes attacked the borders area between Rafah town and Egypt.

Eyewitnesses said that Palestinian medical teams arrived to pick up the three wounded, adding that there are still two people missing under one of the tunnels that were bombarded.

The Israeli airstrike on the borderline came shortly after two homemade rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel. The rockets landed on an empty area, causing no damages or injuries.

The Israeli warplanes targeted the borderline, where hundreds of tunnels were dug underground used by Palestinians to smuggle products of food and fuels from Egypt into Gaza.

The Palestinians increased tunnels to smuggle goods and fuels into Gaza after Israel tightened its blockade on the impoverished strip when Hamas movement took control of the enclave by force in June 2007.

To rein in rocket attacks from Gaza, the Israeli army carried out a 22-day military offensive on the coastal strip, which ended on January 18. Around 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the offensive.

(Xinhua News Agency May 3, 2009)