Gaza City, Palestinian Territories:
The Israeli air force launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip early Wednesday soon after militants in the Palestinian territory sent incendiary balloons into southern Israel, safety sources and witnesses stated.
The airstrikes and balloons marked the initial significant flare-up involving Israel and Gaza given that a ceasefire on May 21 ended 11 days of heavy fighting that killed 260 Palestinians, according to Gaza authorities, and 13 people today in Israel, the police and army there stated.
According to Palestinian sources, Israel’s air force targeted at least one web page east of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younes.
An AFP photojournalist in Khan Younes saw the explosions.
The Israeli Defence Force stated that in response to the “arson balloons”, its “fighter jets struck military compounds belonging to the Hamas terror organisation.”
It added that “facilities and meeting sites for terror operatives” in Khan Younes have been targeted.
Around 1,000 apartments, offices and shops have been destroyed in the most recent round of fighting in May in Gaza, an impoverished enclave of two million controlled by the Hamas Islamist group.
Wednesday’s strikes have been Israel’s initial against Gaza given that a new coalition government took more than on Sunday evening, ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon after 12 years in energy.
The incendiary balloons, which regional firefighters stated triggered about 20 fires in southern Israel, have been sent as more than a thousand ultranationalist demonstrators bearing Israeli flags poured into Jerusalem’s flashpoint Old City on Tuesday.
The US and UN had named for restraint ahead of the march, which the government of new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had authorised.
Police deployed heavily, blocking roads and firing stun grenades and foam-tipped bullets to take away Palestinians from the major route.
Medics stated 33 Palestinians have been wounded and police stated two officers have been injured and 17 people today have been arrested.
Hamas had threatened reprisals more than the march, which celebrated the anniversary of Jerusalem’s “re-unification” soon after Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967 and annexed it, a move not recognised by most of the international neighborhood.
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