JERUSALEM, Dec. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz approved Monday afternoon a series of operations which will be launched in the Rafah area against tunnels used by Palestinians to smuggle weapons and attack Israeli targets.

    The operations, set to begin in the near future, was approved after an emergency meeting of security heads at Mofaz's Tel-Aviv headquarters.

    It was decided that the operations will be conducted over an undetermined period of time.

    Five Israel Defense Forces soldiers from the Beduin Desert Reconnaissance Battalion were killed and six more wounded when a tunnel filled with explosives blew up underneath the side of an Israeli military outpost near the Rafah terminal in the southern Gaza Strip early Sunday evening.

    Security officials said Monday that Palestinian use of tunnels to attack Israeli targets in the Gaza Strip has turned into a serious strategic threat.

    Mofaz said Sunday's attack in Gaza were designed by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to undermine the Palestinian National Authority ahead of Palestinian elections.

    "The only barrier is terrorism. The fear of the Palestinians should not be from us, but from the terrorists. The day they deal with the terrorists we will be out of their cities," Mofaz said in a speech at the Herzelyia Conference hosted by the Interdisciplinary Center.

    Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will hold a meeting later Monday with top Israeli Defence Forces and security chiefs, including Mofaz, Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon and Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter.

    Sharon is expected to ask the army to intensify its efforts against tunnels. Enditem