JERUSALEM – Israeli warplanes on Monday conducted strikes against nineHamas “military targets” in the northern Gaza Strip in response toincendiary kites being sent into Israeli territory, the army said.
The attacks targeted two Hamas military sites and a munitions manufacturingsite, the military said in a statement, without specifying whether theraids had resulted in casualties.
“Fire balloons” and kites carrying flammable material have become symbolsof the Palestinian border protests in recent months.
The Israeli army on Saturday wounded two Palestinians in the Gaza Stripattempting to launch incendiary balloons across the border into Israel,officials said.
Since major border protests broke out at the end of March, more than 300fires have devastated several thousand hectares of fields and shrubland,the Israeli fire service has said.
According to Israel’s Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, 400 kites havebeen intercepted from some 600 launched since the start of the recentprotests.
At least 130 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire in the sametime span. No Israelis have been killed.
Palestinians are calling to return to the homes their families fled or wereforced from in 1948 during the war surrounding the creation of Israel.
The Gaza Strip is controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas which Israelconsiders its chief enemy.
The two sides have fought three wars since 2008 and observe a tenseceasefire. – APP/AFP