4 Gaza tunnels bombed
The Israeli military says its warplanes have attacked four smuggling tunnels and a weapons depot in Gaza.
The military says the strikes late Friday came in response to rocket fire from Gaza at southern Israel. Gaza militants fired two rockets earlier Friday, but caused no damage or injuries.
The latest cross-border exchange came just days before Israel's general election Tuesday in which hardline leader Benjamin Netanyahu is favoured to win.
Sporadic rocket fire and airstrikes have accompanied indirect negotiations between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers on the terms of a cease-fire. Israel wants guarantees that weapons smuggling into Gaza will be halted. Hamas seeks an end to a 20-month border blockade of Gaza by Israel and Egypt.
Meanwhile, Hamas expects to see an agreement with Israel over the reopening of border crossings into the Gaza Strip "within the next few days," a spokesman for the Islamist movement said on Saturday.
"If the Egyptian efforts are successful at this time, we expect to reach an agreement within the next few days," Fawzi Barhum told AFP.
His comments came as a delegation including senior Hamas official Mahmud Zahar left Gaza for Cairo for top-level talks about a lasting truce in the territory.
Egypt has been acting as a mediator between Israel and Hamas to try to broker a lasting truce which would satisfy the Jewish state's demand for an end to weapons smuggling and the Islamist's demand to reopen Gaza's borders.
It was the first time Zahar had been seen in public since Israel's massive 22-day war against Gaza's Islamist rulers which ended with both sides calling separate ceasefires on January 18.
Barhum said the talks were over an agreement "to end the siege, stop the aggression and reopen the crossings."
"If we receive convincing answers from Israel, through Egypt, we expect to reach an agreement in the next days," he reiterated.
Israel, which controls all crossings except Rafah, which is controlled by Egypt, has kept the densely-populated strip closed to all but essential supplies since June 2007 when Hamas seized power, ousting forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas."There was some question about guaranteeing the truce and how the Rafah crossing will reopen and today we expect to have an answer from our Egyptian brothers," Barhum said.
The fact that Zahar himself was attending the talks showed how important the truce was to Hamas, he said.
"It is very important for Hamas to see these Egyptian efforts succeed," he added.
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