(Jerusalem) Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip on Sunday after incendiary balloons were launched into its territory from the Palestinian enclave, causing forest fires.
The strikes, which did not result in casualties, targeted an uninhabited area in the north of the enclave and a training site for the Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, in Khan Yunis, according to Palestinian security sources.
Earlier, Israel announced that it would halve the authorized fishing zone off the Gaza Strip.
“It was decided to reduce the authorized fishing area in the Gaza Strip from 12 nautical miles to 6 nautical miles,” the military branch of the Office for the Coordination of Activities of the Government of Israel in the Palestinian Territories (COGAT) said. .
The decision came due to the launching of incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, in violation of Israeli sovereignty.
Le Cogat, in a press release
Il a prévenu que le « Hamas, responsable des activités dans la bande de Gaza et de toutes les actions menées depuis la bande de Gaza vers l’État d’Israël, devait subir les conséquences des violences commises contre les’ citoyatens de l’État ‘Zionist entity’.
Earlier Sunday, forest fires were extinguished “in three places in a small area in the Eshkol region,” according to a statement by Israeli firefighters, adding that “an expert concluded that the fires were caused by incendiary balloons.”
These balloons target farmland around the impoverished Palestinian enclave, where nearly two million people have been living under Israeli siege for 15 years.
fragile truce
The fishing and import area is used by Israel to punish or reward the Gaza Strip for the security situation.
This is how Israel announced on July 12 the expansion of the fishing zone and the expansion of authorized imports into the Gaza Strip, after the “recent” return of “calm”.
The authorized fishing area before the conflict began in May was 15 nautical miles, but it was reduced by Israel during the hostilities.
Sporadic incidents – incendiary balloon launches from Gaza and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes – have occurred since the start of the fragile ceasefire that ended the 11-day blitzkrieg May 10-21.
Recently, Israel responded to the dumping of these balloons with nighttime air strikes targeting suspected Hamas sites.
The last time these balloons from the Palestinian sector caused a fire in Israel was on July 2.