The Israeli air force launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip early Wednesday after militants in the Palestinian territory sent incendiary balloons into southern Israel, reported AFP.
“Material” damage occurred in the Khan Younis area of Palestine and another site, located in the southern parts of Gaza City was targeted in the attacks. However, no casualties were reported from either of the incidents, reported CNN quoting the official news agency of Palestine called WAFA.
The airstrikes and balloons marked the first major flare-up between Israel and Gaza since a ceasefire on May 21 ended 11 days of heavy fighting that killed 260 Palestinians, according to Gaza authorities, and 13 people in Israel.
According to the report that quoted Palestinian sources, Israel’s air force targeted at least one site east of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younes.
The Israeli Defence Force said 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 were targeted.
Around 1,000 apartments, offices and shops were destroyed in the latest round of fighting in May in Gaza, an impoverished enclave of two million controlled by the Hamas Islamist group.
Wednesday’s strikes were Israel’s first against Gaza since a new coalition government took over on Sunday night, ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after 12 years in power.
The incendiary balloons, which local firefighters said caused around 20 fires in southern Israel, were sent as more than a thousand ultranationalist demonstrators bearing Israeli flags poured into Jerusalem’s flashpoint Old City on Tuesday.
