Israel carries out more strikes on Gaza over balloon bombs

Clashes broke out on Saturday evening along the Gaza-Israeli border

Smoke and flames rise after Israeli army warplanes carried out air strikes over Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. AFP

The Israeli army said on Sunday it carried out more air strikes against Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket attacks and firebombs sent into Israeli territory attached to balloons.

Clashes broke out earlier on Saturday evening along the Gaza-Israeli border, the army said.

The Israeli military said dozens of Palestinians “burnt tyres, hurled explosive devices and grenades towards the security fence and attempted to approach it”.

In the past week, Israeli forces have carried out repeated night-time strikes on targets linked to Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

The army says they are in response to the use of makeshift firebombs, attached to balloons and kites, which have been sent into parts of southern Israel, causing thousands of fires in Israeli farms and communities.

There were 19 such Palestinian attacks on Saturday alone, Israeli rescue services said.

In response, “fighter jets and aircraft struck a number of Hamas military targets in the Gaza Strip,” the army said in its statement.

It said “a military compound and underground infrastructure” belonging to Hamas were among the targets hit.

Early on Sunday, the Israeli military said, two rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza and intercepted by its Iron Dome defence system.

“In response, our air force just struck Hamas terror targets in Gaza, including a military compound used to store rocket ammunition,” it said.

Israel has closed its Kerem Shalom goods crossing with Gaza and reduced the territory’s permitted Mediterranean coastal fishing zone in response to the latest balloon launches.

Despite a truce last year backed by the UN, Egypt and Qatar, the two sides clash sporadically with rockets, mortar fire or incendiary balloons.

The Gaza Strip has a population of two million, more than half of whom live in poverty, World Bank figures indicate.