Four hit by shrapnel in Egypt
2009-01-11 20:06
Ismailia - Two Egyptian children
and two police officers were wounded by shrapnel from Israeli
bombs near a crossing point at Egypt's border with the Gaza
Strip on Sunday, security sources said.
The children, aged two and five, and the two officers were
the first Egyptians to be wounded by Israeli bombs since the
Israeli offensive against Gaza began on December 27, and were taken
to hospitals in el-Arish.
There were no details of the gravity of their injuries.
Witnesses said Egyptian houses near the border and
government offices at the crossing were damaged by shrapnel on
Sunday.
Israel has expanded its air campaign to the southern Gaza
Strip, aiming at smuggling tunnels running under the border with
Egypt, a network that is Gaza's lifeline to the outside world.
Israel says militants use the tunnels to smuggle weapons
into Gaza.
One Egyptian border guard has been killed and two have been
wounded in clashes with Palestinians trying to enter Egypt since
the Israeli offensive began.
The Palestinian death toll in Gaza since December 27 stands at
874, many of them civilians, Gaza medical officials said.
Israel
says 10 Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed.