The Israeli Air Forces launched a series of airstrikes on Gaza in response to a rocket assault by Palestinian militants, the Israeli Defense Forces' press service said on Saturday.

The airstrike targeted a smuggling tunnel; it killed one Palestinian, wounded another and left three missing.

The Gaza Strip has been subject to an almost continuous Israeli blockade since the radical Islamic group Hamas took control of the enclave in the summer of 2007, ousting President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement.

Since the start of the blockade, most of Gaza's consumer goods have been smuggled through tunnels from Egypt.

Israel's Operation Cast Lead, which ended in mid-January 2009, killed some 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza and injured over 5,300 others. Up to 50,000 people were also left homeless in the enclave of 1.5 million. Israel's casualties in the three-week conflict were 13, including 10 military personnel.

TEL AVIV, September 5 (RIA Novosti)