JERUSALEM - Israeli warplanes on Sunday launched two pre-dawn raids on two tunnels used by smugglers in the southern Gaza Strip, in response to a new rocket attack by Palestinian militants, the army said.

A military spokesman said the tunnels targeted were used to smuggle arms into the Islamist Hamas-run enclave. There was no immediate word of casualties.

Late on Saturday, Gaza militants carried out their second rocket attack on Israel in two days, with the missile exploding near Sderot, causing damage at a university building but no casualties.

Israel routinely responds after rocket attacks from Gaza by launching air strikes. On Friday a raid killed a senior commander with the military wing of Hamas after a rocket hit Israel`s southern town of Ashkelon.

Hamas vowed revenge for the overnight raids that also wounded another eight people.

BDST: 12.07 HRS, August 1, 2010