Gaza: Israeli strikes on Hamas in response to incendiary balloon fire

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While on Saturday in localities in southern Israel, at least 23 fires were started by incendiary balloons launched from Gaza, the Israeli army responded early this Sunday morning. It hit positions of Hamas, the ruling Islamist organization in the Palestinian coastal enclave.

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From our correspondent in Ramallah, Alice Froussard

"  Israeli tanks hit Hamas military posts  ," said the statement from the IDF, the Israeli army. For the moment, no casualties have been recorded in the coastal enclave ... But this renewed tension between Israel and Gaza is only the continuation of a long series .

Since the beginning of August, Hamas has stepped up rocket attacks towards border kibbutzes, and fire from incendiary balloons - which have caused nearly 400 fires in localities in southern Israel.

Strikes almost every night

In retaliation, almost every night the IDF carries out airstrikes in Gaza and tightened the blockade. Thus, the fishing zone is now completely closed and an embargo on fuel oil has been put in place, which last week caused the shutdown of Gaza's only power plant.

According to analysts, it is “  the unfortunately very classic choreography of escalation blackmail  ”. There, the context is also particular in addition to these tensions with the generalized confinement imposed by Hamas. In addition, the discovery of cases of coronavirus in the working population and not among Palestinians returning from abroad, as was the case before, worries the authorities.

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• Israel
• Gaza
• Palestinian territories

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