JERUSALEM, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes struck southern Gaza on Thursday night in response to rocket fire from the coastal strip, said an army announcement.

The airstrike was targeted at a weapon factory and a smuggling tunnel near the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, said the announcement from Israeli army spokesperson's office.

The attack was a response to the firing of a rocket that hit an Israeli village on Thursday.

Hundreds of tunnels were dug under the borderline between the Gaza Strip and Egypt to smuggle all kinds of goods after Israel imposed a tight blockade on the coastal enclave after the Islamic Hamas movement seized control by force in June 2007.