First Israeli airstrikes against the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire

Published on : 06/16/2021 – 01:24

The question of a further escalation of tensions between Israel and Hamas arises after a first notable incident between the two camps since the end of their blitz in May. The Israeli air force carried out strikes in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday (June 16) after the launching of incendiary balloons on Tuesday from the Palestinian territory into southern Israel, according to Palestinian security sources and a Hamas radio station.

These strikes and balloons are the first major incidents between Israel and Gaza since a ceasefire on May 21, which ended 11 days of a lightning war that left 260 dead on the Palestinian side, including children, adolescents and combatants; and thirteen deaths in Israel, including a child, a teenage girl and a soldier.

According to Palestinian sources, the Israeli air force targeted at least one site east of Khan Younès, a town in the south of the Gaza Strip, an impoverished enclave of two million inhabitants, including about a thousand apartments, offices. and businesses were destroyed in the last war with Israel, the fourth since 2008. An AFP photographer in Khan Younes also saw explosions.

The Israeli army confirmed in a statement that its “combat jets” had struck Hamas sites, used in particular for “meetings” of this Palestinian armed movement, in “retaliation” for the launching of incendiary balloons on Tuesday which caused an outbreak of fire. twenty fires in Israel.

She said she was “ready for all scenarios, including a resumption of fighting in the face of continuing terrorist acts emanating from Gaza.”

Hamas threats

These are the first Israeli strikes against this Palestinian territory, under the control of Islamists Hamas and under Israeli blockade, since the coming to power Sunday evening of a motley coalition that ended 12 years of reign of Benjamin Netanyahu.

These incidents take place on the sidelines of nationalist and far-right protests in East Jerusalem that brought together more than a thousand people.

The United States and the United Nations (UN) had called for “restraint” before this controversial march that the new Israeli government of Naftali Bennett, in office since Sunday, had authorized while marking out its route to avoid confrontations with the Palestinians .

The Hamas movement had, for its part, threatened Israel with reprisals if this march celebrating the takeover and annexation of East Jerusalem, the Palestinian sector of the Holy City, by the Israeli army in 1967, ventured in particular into the Muslim quarters of the Old City.

With AFP and Reuters