Israeli warplanes smashed targets in Gaza overnight after Hamas launched cross border attacks with scores of “firebomb balloons.”
In the first major flare-up since the recent 11 day missile exchanges ended in a ceasefire Gaza came under air-attack once again in a ten minute blitz.
The Israeli military targeted Hamas compounds after as many as 20 blazes were sparked near Israeli communities close to to the border with Gaza.
Hamas launched the helium balloons and kites carrying burning fuel and explosive devices across the border in revenge for an Israeli nationalist march.
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(Image: SIPA USA/PA Images)
The rally had taken place in East Jerusalem after being cancelled from the previous week by police In recent years, militants have frequently sent helium balloons and kites carrying containers of burning fuel and explosive devices over the Gaza border.
The devices have caused hundreds of fires in Israel, burning thousands of hectares of forest and farmland.
Yesterday in another major incident Israeli troops shot a Palestinian motorist who tried to ram them in the occupied West Bank and then brandished a knife.
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(Image: SIPA USA/PA Images)
The Palestinian health ministry said the woman had died of her injuries.
There was no word of Israeli casualties.
It follows a rise in tensions after the Jewish nationalist march in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
The Israeli military said the Palestinian woman “attempted to ram into a number of IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers,” near the Palestinian village of Hizma, northeast of Jerusalem.
(Image: SIPA USA/PA Images)
The military said: “After the car-ramming attempt, the assailant exited her vehicle with a knife drawn … The soldiers responded with fire towards the assailant and neutralised her.”
There has been a rise in violent incidents in the West Bank in recent weeks.
Last Thursday, Israeli special forces killed an Islamic Jihad militant and two Palestinian security men in an exchange of fire in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
(Image: SIPA USA/PA Images)
Two Palestinians were killed in separate incidents on Friday and Saturday,
the first during a clash with Israeli troops in the West Bank and the second while wielding a knife at military checkpoint near Jerusalem.
