Gaza tunnel blast hurts 5 at Israeli outpost
Israel destroys 2 workshops it says were used to make weapons
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- An explosion in a tunnel next to an Israeli military post near the entrance to the Gush Katif settlement block in Gaza wounded five Israelis Sunday, Israeli emergency services officials and military sources said.
Israeli emergency services personnel said one wounded Israeli was trapped at the site and four Israelis were evacuated to a hospital. Exchanges of gunfire continued during the evacuation.
In a telephone call to CNN, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades took responsibility for the blast. Another source said Hamas shared responsibility. A Hamas rally was taking place near Gaza City when the explosion occurred at 10 p.m. (3 p.m. ET).
Israeli military sources said the tunnel extended from the Palestinian city of Khan Yunis to the outpost. They said the army moved additional troops and armor to the area after the attack.
Palestinian witnesses reported a number of Israeli tanks headed toward Beit Hanoun in Gaza shortly after the blast.
Earlier, a Palestinian source said two Palestinian suicide attackers and five Israeli soldiers were killed in the explosion, but the Israel Defense Forces did not confirm that number.
Hours after the tunnel explosion, Israeli missiles destroyed two workshops in Gaza City that Israelis said Hamas and other militant groups were using to make weapons, including Qassam rockets.
No injuries were reported in the strikes early Monday. Israelis have hit several workshops in Gaza City in recent weeks.
The IDF said the Ashraf Lu-lu weapons workshop, in the Zeitoun neighborhood, specialized in rebuilding weapons but also produced them. The Shaaban weapons workshop, in the Eskola district, also produced weaponry, the IDF said.
In a separate incident, a Palestinian policeman and a Palestinian youth were killed and four Palestinians were wounded by Israeli tank fire in Khan Yunis, according to Palestinian security sources.
Al Aqsa Military Brigades, a military offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, has attacked military and civilian targets in Israel and in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.
Hamas is a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization whose military wing has admitted responsibility for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and attacks against the Israeli military.
Both groups are considered terrorist organizations by Israel and the United States.
On Saturday, five Al Aqsa members and one from Hamas was killed in an Israeli operation in Nablus, Palestinian sources said. One of them was identified as Nayef Abu Sharkh, head of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the old city, the Nablus governor's office said.
He was considered by many to have been the most important Al Aqsa militant in the West Bank.
Also killed in the raid was Jaafar Masri, the leader of Hamas' military wing, Izzedine al-Qassam, in Nablus.
The raid came during a two-day Israeli operation to root out militants.
CNN's Yoav Appel contributed to this report.
