JERUSALEM, Aug 26 (AFP) - Israel on Thursday closed down the checkpoints along the trans-Gaza highway and the Rafah border crossing with Egypt after specific warnings about militant attacks, an army spokesman said.
"The Tancher road was closed because of the Qassam rockets which were fired last night and this morning and due to specific attack warnings," he said, using the army's name for the trans-Gaza highway, which is known by the Palestinians as Salah al-Din Street.
There are two main checkpoints along the highway -- the first just south of Gaza City, and the second, just outside the southern town of Khan Yunis, which is known as the Abu Gholi checkpoint.
The Rafah border crossing was also closed earlier on Thursday due to "a specific alert about a suicide bombing", he added.
Palestinian security sources confirmed the information, saying no traffic was able to move along the road.
They also said the army closed the northern Erez crossing into Israel and the Karni industrial crossing, but the army said neither crossing point had been affected by the closure.
Earlier on Thursday, two makeshift Qassam rockets fired by Palestinian militants in the northern Gaza Strip landed on the southern Israeli town of Sderot but caused no injuries, police sources said.
Israeli military sources also said Palestinian mortar bombs had landed near the Jewish settlement of Morag in southern Gaza, without causing any injuries.