Israeli raids on Gaza after launching incendiary balloons

Published on : 08/29/2021 – 10:59

The tension is not weakening in the Middle East. Israel announced that it carried out airstrikes on the Gaza Strip early Sunday (August 29) after launching incendiary balloons into Israeli territory from the Palestinian enclave.

“The raids targeted a Hamas military compound (in power in Gaza, editor’s note) used for the manufacture of weapons and for training as well as the entrance to a terrorist tunnel adjacent to (the city of) Jabalia,” said the press release from the Israeli army.

“The strikes were in retaliation for the launching of incendiary balloons by Hamas on Israeli territory and the violent riots which took place yesterday” (Saturday), the statement said.

The Gazan authorities did not immediately deplore any casualties.

Speaking in Washington, where he had met with US President Joe Biden on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he held Hamas responsible for any disturbance from the Palestinian enclave.

“As I said before, our actions in Gaza will serve our interests,” he told reporters before taking the plane back to Israel. “As far as I’m concerned, the address has been and remains that of Hamas.”

Saturday night clashes

On Saturday evening, clashes erupted between the Israeli army and Palestinians responding to the call of several groups in Gaza to protest in particular against the blockade imposed for nearly 15 years by Israel on the overpopulated Palestinian enclave.

The army used tear gas and stun grenades as protesters burned tires, according to an AFP journalist.

According to the Gazan Ministry of Health, 11 Palestinians were injured in the clashes, three of them by live ammunition.

For their part, Israeli firefighters reported that incendiary balloons launched from Gaza had started bushfires in Israel.

A week of incidents

Last weekend, around 40 people were injured on August 21 by Israeli gunfire, according to the Gazan authorities, including Omar Hassan Abu Al-Nile, a 12-year-old Palestinian who died on Saturday. A member of the Israeli security forces, hit by gunfire, is still in critical condition.

The week was then peppered with incidents, with Israeli air raids on Hamas sites, the launching of incendiary balloons from Gaza and clashes at the border fence separating the enclave from the Hebrew state.

Israel and Hamas fought an eleven-day lightning war in May, in which 260 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, including fighters, according to local authorities. In Israel, rocket fire from Gaza killed 13 people, including a soldier, according to police and military.

With AFP