Israeli warplanes bombed the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip overnight after Palestinians fired a rocket into southern Israel, the Israeli army said.
The latest exchange came as Israel warned Hamas it was risking war by failing to stop fire balloons being launched across the border.
Egyptian security officials shuttled between the two sides to end the flare-up which has seen more than a week of rocket and fire balloon attacks from Gaza, and nightly Israeli reprisals.
Photo: AFP
“Earlier tonight, a rocket was fired and during the day, explosive and arson balloons were launched from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory,” an Israeli military statement released shortly before midnight on Tuesday said.
In response, “fighter jets and [other] aircraft struck additional Hamas military targets in the Gaza Strip, the statement said.
“During the strike, a military compound belonging to one of the special arrays of the Hamas terror organization was struck,” it added.
There were no reports from Gaza of casualties.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin issued a warning to Hamas during a visit to firefighters in the border area who said they had been called to 40 fires caused by Palestinian arson balloons on Tuesday.
“Terrorism using incendiary kites and balloons is terrorism just like any other,” Rivlin said, according to a statement from his office.
“Hamas should know that this is not a game. The time will come when they have to decide... If they want war, they will get war,” said Rivlin, whose post is largely ceremonial.
Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.
Despite a truce last year backed by the UN, Hamas and Israel clash sporadically, with Palestinian incendiary balloons, rockets or mortar fire drawing retaliatory Israeli strikes and sanctions against civilians in Gaza.
A Hamas source said they had held talks with the Egyptian delegation in Gaza on Monday before it left the territory for meetings with the Israelis and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. The delegation was expected to return to Gaza after those talks were concluded, the source added.
In response to the balloon attacks, Israel has banned fishing off Gaza’s coast and closed the Kerem Shalom goods crossing, cutting off deliveries of fuel to the territory’s sole power plant.
Power had been in short supply even before the shutdown, with consumers having access to electricity for only around eight hours a day. That would now be cut to just four hours a day using power supplied from the Israeli grid.
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