Israel-Palestine: first notable incidents since the Bennett government took office
A Palestinian activist throws a flaming projectile on June 15, 2021, east of Gaza City.
AFP - MAHMUD HAMS
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Israeli air force targeted Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday (June 16) after launching incendiary balloons at Israel, the first notable incident between the two camps since the end of their lightning war last May.
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Israel's airstrikes on Wednesday are the first carried out by the Jewish state since a new government led by former Defense Minister Naftali Bennett took office on Sunday, which ended more than twelve years of unbroken reign of Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to Palestinian sources, the Israeli air force targeted at least one site east of Khan Younès, a city in southern Gaza, an impoverished enclave of two million inhabitants where about a thousand apartments, offices and businesses were destroyed in the last war with Israel, the fourth since 2008.
Explosions
An AFP photographer on site saw the blasts, while the IDF confirmed in a statement that its "
combat jets
" had struck Palestinian Hamas sites in "
retaliation
" for throwing incendiary balloons, Tuesday, June 15, having caused about twenty fires in Israel. The sites targeted were used in particular for "
meetings
" of the Palestinian armed movement, according to the army.
These exchanges of fire are the first major incidents between Israel and Gaza since a ceasefire on May 21 ended 11 days of a new war in which 260 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in the Strip. of Gaza under blockade, among which fighters, according to the local authorities.
In Israel, rocket fire from Gaza killed 13 people, including a soldier, according to police and military.
High tensions
Since then, tensions have remained high between Israelis and Palestinians.
On Wednesday June 15, the Ministry of Health in the occupied West Bank reported the death of a Palestinian woman, killed by the Israeli army, who in turn said she had foiled an attack.
(
with AFP
)
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To read also: "March of the flags" in Jerusalem: "We are here to say it: we are at home"
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