TEL AVIV: Israel’s military said Thursday it had carried out fresh overnight strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, in response to incendiary balloons launched across the border from the Palestinian enclave. The latest round of hostilities has seen firebombs attached to bunches of balloons floating into Israel, setting scrubland ablaze. In response, Israel has closed a goods crossing with Gaza and slashed the territory’s permitted coastal fishing zone, as well as launching air strikes on sites owned by the enclave’s Islamist rulers Hamas. A Gaza security source said Israeli warplanes had carried out several strikes on Hamas sites. The Gaza Strip has a population of two million, more than half of whom live in poverty, according to the World Bank.

Source: Manila Times August 13, 2020 15:56 UTC