Israeli troops quit southern Gaza

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pulled out from Philadelphi Route bordering the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning after a week-long military operation to uncover arms-smuggling tunnels, Army Radio reported.

The army, however, was expected to return to the route towards the end of the week, the report said, adding the forces have been already preparing for a "return operation" within the next few days.

In the course of "Operation Squeezed Fruit", the IDF troops discovered 15 tunnels dug by Palestinian militants under the route, which marks the southwestern border between Egypt and the Palestinians.

The operation was part of an offensive that Israel launched in Gaza on June 28, three days after three Palestinian militants groups, including the armed wing of the ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), kidnapped a soldier and killed two others in a cross-border raid.

Despite Israeli army's stepped-up presence, three more rockets were launched from Gaza. Two of them landed in Israeli border city of Sderot, damaging two vehicles and causing a number of residents to go into shock.

Israel Air Force responded by firing two missiles at rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip, local media reported on Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua