Jerusalem:
Israel on Sunday decreased by half the fishing zone off Gaza, defence officials mentioned, following incendiary balloons launched from the Palestinian enclave brought on fires in the Jewish state.
“It has been decided to reduce the fishing zone in the Gaza Strip from 12 nautical miles to six nautical miles,” the Israeli military branch accountable for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories (COGAT) mentioned.
“The decision was made following the continued launching of incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, which constitutes a violation of Israeli sovereignty,” it mentioned in a statement.
Gaza’s ruling group Hamas was “responsible for all activities within the Gaza Strip and all actions originating in the Gaza Strip directed towards the state of Israel”, COGAT mentioned.
“It will therefore bear the consequences for the violence committed against the citizens of the state of Israel.”
Earlier Sunday, Israeli firefighters mentioned they extinguished brush blazes “in three points in a small area in the Eshkol region”, noting that investigations had “determined the cause as being incendiary balloons”.
The balloons are simple devices intended to set fire to farmland surrounding the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian enclave.
On July 12, Israel announced it was re-expanding the fishing zone off Gaza and enabling further imports into the Palestinian territory in the light of the “recent security calm”.
The fishing zone and imports are made use of by Israel to punish or reward Gaza for the safety circumstance.
An 11-day conflict in May saw Israel launch hundreds of air strikes on Gaza, and Hamas fire thousands of rockets at Israel.
Prior to the May conflict, the Gaza fishing zone was 15 nautical miles, but Israel decreased it through the warfare.
There has been sporadic unrest because a ceasefire ended the conflict, with incendiary balloons launched from Gaza and Israeli reprisal air strikes targeting facilities belonging to Hamas. No casualties have been reported.
The last time balloons from Gaza brought on a fire in Israel was early this month.
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