Tel Aviv  - Israeli aircraft bombed three tunnels running under the Gaza Strip-Sinai border early Wednesday morning, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.

Secondary explosions were reported after one of the tunnels had been hit, indicating that explosives had been in it.

The tunnels are used to smuggle into the Strip goods made scarce by an Israeli blockade of the Hamas-run salient, but Israel says they are also used as a conduit to bring weapons into the enclave.

Tel Aviv - Israel's entry for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, by a Jewish-Arab duo, conjures a peaceful solution to the conflict in the Middle East.

The song "There must be another way" by Jewish singer Noa and Christian Arab Israeli Mira Awad received most votes in Monday night's selection of songs in Arabic, Hebrew and English.

The two women, who have collaborated for years, are to take their song to the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow in May.

Tel Aviv - The number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank could double if the next Israeli government implements all existing blueprints for the construction of new apartments in the occupied territory, the Israeli Peace Now movement warned Tuesday.

The Israeli Housing Ministry has over the past years drawn up blueprints for the construction of more than 73,000 new apartments in the West Bank, which are in various stages of planning.

Tel Aviv  - The city of Tel Aviv will kick off its centenary celebrations next month, Mayor Ron Huldai said Sunday, telling reporters that the development of the city from a suburb of Jaffa in 1909 to Israel's cultural and economic hub was a "miracle."

The celebrations, which will cost an estimated 43 million Israeli shekels (about 10 million dollars) are slated to begin on April 4 in the city's central Rabin Square, with a performance by dancers, acrobats, theatre groups, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

The city will also be reviving its Tel Aviv marathon race as part of the celebrations on April 24, and on May 27 will host an all-night festival commemorating the city's early days.

Tel

Tel Aviv  - Israeli fighter jets bombed tunnels running to Egypt and a Hamas post early Wednesday in the southern Gaza Strip, apparently in retaliation for a mortar fired overnight by Palestinian militants into Israel, Israeli media reports said.

Seven tunnels were hit near Rafah and one other target was hit in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli military spokesman told the Haaretz newspaper, which identified the second strike as hitting a Hamas post in Khan Younis.

The report did not mention any casualties.