(Adds details) GAZA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Israeli warplanes bombed an open area in the southern Gaza Strip early on Thursday, shortly after militants fired a rocket at Israel, witnesses and the Islamic movement Hamas said. An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the attack, saying it had targeted a weapons production site, in response to the rocket fire at Israel. There were no immediate reports of any injuries from the attack which witnesses said damaged a metal foundry in the town of Rafah, along the Gaza Strip border with Egypt. The air strike was at least the second time Israel has bombed Gaza since a Jan. 18 halt to a 22-day offensive. Israel bombed tunnels on Wednesday it says were used to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Gaza, a day after Gaza militants killed an Israeli soldier in an explosion along a border fence.
Palestinians, whose houses were destroyed during Israel's offensive, wait to receive money distributed by Hamas in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip January 28, 2009. Hamas Islamists have started handing out ...
