About a week ago, Palestinian youth groups began launching incendiary balloons towards Israeli settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip for the first time since 2021 as part of the daily demonstrations that began earlier this month, resulting in fires there.
Political analysts say that the resumption of the launching of incendiary balloons is an attempt to move the stagnant waters in the file of breaking and dismantling the 17-year Israeli blockade, and to solve the economic crisis that the Gaza Strip is going through.
Analysts believe that it is possible for the Gaza Strip to obtain economic facilities, whether in the file of workers or crossings, as part of efforts to contain the current tension, in light of the unwillingness of Israel, which faces political and security complications, to enter into an open military confrontation.
Incendiary balloons are balloons attached to flammable materials that Palestinians began using in 2018 to express their protest against the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
These balloons cause fires as soon as they fall on land in agricultural fields belonging to Israeli settlements near the Gaza border.
Tension in a natural context
Hazem Qassem, spokesman for the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), told Anadolu Agency that the state of tension on the borders of the Gaza Strip comes in its normal context in light of the provocation felt by young people due to what is happening in Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem, and the continued crimes of the occupation.
Qassem pointed out that Hamas will continue to support the militant movement wherever it is in the country, despite Israel's repeated bombardment of their military sites.
The Israeli army bombed Hamas military positions in the Gaza Strip in response to demonstrations at the border fence, Qassem said.
Improving the economic situation
Shaker Shabbat, a political specialist, told Anadolu Agency that the clash and the launching of incendiary balloons towards settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip aim to move stagnant waters to dismantle the siege and improve the economic situation.
Ali al-Awar, a specialist in Israeli affairs, said that the state of tension on the separation fence is temporary, as it will end with the Gaza Strip obtaining economic facilities from Israel, according to his expectations.
Laaouar says the incendiary balloons send political messages to the parties concerned, and this scene may end with the return of calm after the Gaza Strip has obtained economic privileges.
Laawar predicted that these privileges would include raising the number of Palestinians with work permits in Israel and the West Bank to 20,<>, or facilities for exporting agricultural products from the Gaza Strip.
The occupation authorities extended the closure of the Beit Hanoun crossing with the continuation of demonstrations on the security fence, thus preventing the entry of about 18,<> workers to the occupied territories and the West Bank where they work, a category that contributed to moving the commercial wheel and giving the market in Gaza a kind of purchasing power.