JERUSALEM, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Two mortar shells fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza landed near a Palestinian ambulance taking a sick Gazan to Israel, an Israeli defense official said.
Palestinians early Sunday fired a Qassam rocket that landed in an open field in the Negev. No casualties were reported.
In response to the attacks, the Israeli air force early Monday bombed a smuggling tunnel in southern Gaza, Maariv said.
The mortar shells landed on the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing, used daily to transfer sick Palestinians seeking treatment in Israel or elsewhere, Maariv quoted Col. Moshe Levy, head of the Israeli army's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, based near the Erez Crossing, as saying.
At the time of the mortar attacks, a Palestinian suffering from a heart ailment was being transported by a Palestinian ambulance to the Israeli side of the crossing, Levy said.
"Once again we are witnessing the cynical use Palestinian terror groups in Gaza make of the humanitarian assistance Israel offers, and attacks those who are vulnerable and weak and in need of assistance," the paper quoted Levy as saying.
