The Israeli army says its tanks have attacked Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rockets and air-fired firebombs launched in southern Israel.
“Tanks targeted a number of military observation posts belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip,” a statement from the army said on Monday, referring to the group that governs the enclave.
The army said that in addition to frontier attacks with explosives and burning devices, hung from balloons, dozens of people on Sunday night also “were wronged at the security fence of the Gaza Strip”.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Palestinian territory has been under Israeli blockade since 2007. Israel cites Hamas security threats for its land and naval blockade.
The latest incidents follow a week of heightened tensions, in which Israel also crosses the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) goods with the Gaza Strip and on Sunday closes the permitted coastal fishing zone of Gaza.
Palestinian officials said the closure of the crossing would affect imports of building materials.
On Thursday, Israel said it would stop sending fuel to Gaza in response to the igniting balloons.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called the measure a “serious act of aggression” that would deepen Gaza’s economic hardship.
The Israeli army said Palestinian “assailants burned tires, threw explosives and grenades at the security fence and tried to approach it” on Saturday night.
That was followed on Sunday by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, including what a military statement called “using a military compound to store rocket ammunition” belonging to Hamas.
Despite a ceasefire last year supported by the UN, Egypt and Qatar, both sides sporadically collided with rockets, mortar fire or incendiary balloons.
Economic difficulties
Speaking from Jerusalem, Harry Fawcett of Al Jazeera said the escalation was related to the difficult economic situation in Gaza, explaining that the enclave has seen increasing levels of unemployment and more people living below the poverty line.
“Hamas has a real problem to deal with, and as we have seen in such phases in the past, Hamas has raised the temperature. That’s what seems to be happening. There has been a return to launching incendiary balloons and kites and setting of fires.
“The calculation, it seems, is that they want to see Israel do well on some of the promises Hamas says Israel made last year when an understanding was reached to try to bring some peace to a series. escalations, such as allowing more international contributions to build infrastructure, the beginning of an industrial zone … and increased electricity, “Fawcett said.
The Gaza Strip has a population of two million, more than half of whom live in poverty, according to the World Bank.
Palestinian anger has flared up since Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed on Thursday to normalize relations, a move that many Palestinians saw as a betrayal of their cause by the Gulf state.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
.
