Israeli jets strike Gaza after incendiary balloons launched
Several missiles also targeted various Hamas military posts in western Gaza, said the sources, adding that no injury was reported while there were severe damages at Hamas military posts
Israeli fighter jets carried out airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in response to incendiary balloons launched at southern Israel, according to security sources.
The sources said that late on Saturday night, the Israeli war jets fired two missiles at a military training post south of Gaza city that belongs to Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, Xinhua news agency reported.
Several missiles also targeted various Hamas military posts in northern and western Gaza, said the sources, adding that no injury was reported while there were severe damages at the Hamas military posts and facilities.
Earlier on Saturday, Palestinian activists fired several incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel, causing fires and damages. No injury was reported.
Since the 11-day Israeli-palestinian conflict ended on May 21, Israeli fighter jets carried out several airstrikes on Hamas military facilities and posts in response to incendiary balloons.
The Egypt brokered-ceasefire between Israel and Hamas-led militant groups continues in the Gaza Strip.
However, Gaza activists continued launching arson balloons at Israel, demanding that the Jewish state must end the 14 years’ blockade imposed on the impoverished enclave.
In Gaza, Israeli jets struck a weapon manufacturing facility and a rocket launcher in response to incendiary balloons sent from the Palestinian enclave into Israel on Saturday, the military said. Sources in Hamas, confirmed that the two sites hit belonged to the group. One man was critically wounded, medics said.
Egypt and the United Nations have stepped up mediation efforts over the Israeli strikes and Gaza balloon launches, though the incidents have not led to a broader escalation.
At least 250 Palestinians and 13 in Israel were killed in the May fighting, which saw Gaza militants fire rockets towards Israeli cities and Israel carry out air strikes across the coastal enclave.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday to demonstrate against President Mahmoud Abbas, hoping to inject new momentum into a protest movement sparked by the death of an outspoken critic in the custody of security forces.
Palestinian security forces and groups of men in plainclothes violently dispersed a similar protest a week ago, drawing expressions of concern from the United States and the UN human rights chief. There were no immediate reports of violence on Saturday. The Palestinian Authority was established as part of the peace process in the 1990s and governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
It has grown increasingly autocratic and unpopular, and Abbas cancelled the first elections in 15 years in April when it looked like his fractured Fatah party would lose badly.
He was largely sidelined during the Gaza war in May amid an outpouring of support for his rivals, the territory’s Hamas rulers.
Saturday’s demonstration began with a few hundred protesters gathering in Al Manara Square in central Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is headquartered.
The mother of Nizar Banat, the activist whose death last month sparked the protests, and other family members were welcomed with applause and gave brief speeches.
The crowd then made a loop through downtown, gathering force as it marched until thousands could be heard chanting “The people want the fall of the regime,” and “Abbas, leave,” slogans used during the so-called Arab Spring protests that swept the Middle East in 2011.
There was initially no visible security presence, but when the protesters marched down a main street leading to the headquarters of the PA they approached a line of riot police manning barricades.
The protesters halted and sat in the street several meters away.
Fatah meanwhile held a rally in the southern West Bank city of Hebron in which supporters waved the party’s trademark yellow flags.
The PA’S official Palestine TV covered the Hebron rally and ignored the demonstration in Ramallah.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said this week that the US was “deeply disturbed by reports that non-uniformed members of the Palestinian Authority security forces harassed and used force against protesters and journalists” during last weekend’s demonstrations.