Israel beats Hamas in Gaza over rockets, balloons

TEL AVIV / GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli planes and tanks hit Hamas facilities in Gaza on Friday and militants fired half a dozen missiles at southern Israel, his army said, as mediators struggled to work for peace at the fleeing border.

There were no reports of casualties on either side. The Middle East envoy of the United Nations urged Israel and militants from Gaza to stop the violence.

The Israeli military said it was hitting the underground infrastructure and launching a military post by Islamic State militants Hamas from Gaza overnight in response to burning balloons from the Palestinian enclave that burned Israeli agricultural land.

Gaza militants then fired six rockets at Israel, the army said, drawing a second round of Israeli strikes that hit an armed Hamas training camp.

A spokesman for the Israeli military said he had no information on where the Gaza missiles landed, but that none of them were intercepted by his Iron Dome system.

Hamas has sought to pressure Israel to reduce its blockade of Gaza and allow more investment, in part by allowing Palestinians to launch dozens of helium balloons carrying fuel to southern Israel in recent weeks.

With high tensions, Israel has closed its only commercial crossing with Gaza, banned access to the sea and stopped the import of fuel into the Mediterranean coast, leading to its only power plant shut down last week.

“Militants continue to launch projectiles and fuel devices. The tightening of closures makes life in the Strip unbearable, ‘said UN Mid-East envoy Nickolay Mladenov on Twitter.

“Under the current circumstances, no mediation efforts can prevent escalation and improve the situation.”

Mediators from the United Nations, Egypt and Qatar have worked to restore calm. Qatari envoy Mohammad Al-Emadi has been in Gaza since Tuesday, talking to Hamas leaders.

Israel has been hitting Hamas facilities almost overnight for the past two weeks, saying it would not tolerate the balloons.

Social officials have expressed concern that the closure of the power plant could exacerbate a new outbreak of coronavirus in poor Gaza, home to 2 million Palestinians.