Israel attacks Hamas targets in Gaza in response to balloon bombs

TEL AVIV: The Israeli Air Force (IAF) attacked targets in Gaza in response to incendiary balloons or balloon bombs launched from the Gaza Strip throughout the weekend, as per an Israeli media report on Saturday.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) aircraft attacked a Hamas rocket launching pad and weapons manufacturing facility following a bushfire that broke out on Saturday afternoon in the Eshkol Regional Council near the Gaza border, reported The Jerusalem Post. A spokesperson for Israel Fire and Rescue Services reported that the fire was caused by an incendiary balloon launched from Gaza.

This is the second time this week that the IAF has targeted Gaza. On Thursday, an IAF aircraft struck a Hamas weapons manufacturing facility in Gaza, reported The Jerusalem Post.

Tensions have been rising this week after Israel demolished a Palestinian shop in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan on Tuesday, triggering clashes between police and protesters who accused authorities of discriminatory enforcement of building permits in the holy city, reported The Jerusalem Post.

A bulldozer escorted by Israeli police flattened a butcher shop in the neighbourhood which is overlooked by the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam and the most sensitive site in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Meanwhile, settlers evacuated the West Bank Evyatar outpost on Friday after an agreement was reached that an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) army base will be set up on the site. The legal status of the land will be decided within six months of evaluation by The Civil Administration.

Palestinians from the village of Beita and Yatma claim that the land belongs to them. But the Samaria Regional Council and the Nahala Movement, which spearheaded the Evyatar initiative, have disputed that claim and have argued that it can be classified as state land, reported The Jerusalem Post.