Violence escalates along Gaza-Israel border


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JERUSALEM // The Israeli air force hit seven suspected militant sites in Gaza early Tuesday and Palestinian militants sent a rocket crashing down near a kindergarten in southern Israel in a flare-up along the Israel-Gaza border.

Gaza health official Adham Abu Salmia said three Palestinians were wounded in the airstrikes. The Israeli military said a 15-year-old girl was slightly injured by shrapnel.

The airstrikes targeted a weapons-manufacturing facility and smuggling tunnels, the military said in a statement. Some of the tunnels were designed to allow militants to infiltrate Israel to carry out attacks, the statement said.

The airstrikes were in retaliation for the firing of 13 rockets and mortars at Israel this week, the military said.

Palestinians said one of the targets was a government-built dairy factory.

Who was Alfred Nobel?

The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.

  • In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
  • Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
  • Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.