Israel carries out airstrikes in Gaza in response to 'Arson Balloons'

After the end of 11 days of cross-border fighting last month, Israel on Wednesday launched airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, the first after Palestinians in the besieged enclave sent incendiary balloons into southern Israel.

The Israeli Army said that their aircraft attacked Hamas armed compounds in Gaza City and the southern town of Khan Younis and was "ready for all scenarios, including renewed fighting in the face of continued terrorist acts emanating from Gaza".

The flare-up, the first test for the new government of Israel came after hundreds of Israeli ultranationalists, some chanting “Death to Arabs,” paraded in east Jerusalem on Tuesday in a show of force that threatened to spark renewed violence. After which, Palestinians in Gaza responded by launching incendiary balloons that caused nearly 20 fires in southern Israel.

The march posed a test for Israel’s fragile new government as well as the tenuous truce that ended last month’s 11-day war between Israel and Hamas. However, Palestinians consider the march, meant to celebrate Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem in 1967, to be a provocation. 

the Israeli army informed the airstrikes were mounted in response to the launching of the balloons, which the Israeli fire brigade reported caused 20 blazes in open fields in communities near the Gaza border.

The Gaza attack last month

On May 21, a ceasefire regime between Israel and the Gaza Strip took effect. Israel and Hamas concluded 11 days of fighting during which hundreds of rockets were launched from both Israel and Palestine sides. As per the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, 253 Palestinians were killed during the fighting, including 66 children, while 13 Israelis, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier, were killed.

Meanwhile, last week, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has led Israel for the past 12 years stepped down as 8 coalition parties have agreed to unseat him and form the government. Naftali Bennett on Sunday swore in as Israel's new Prime Minister. Bennett’s best hope for maintaining his ruling coalition which consists of eight parties from across the political spectrum will be to manage the conflict, the same approach favored by his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, for most of his 12-year rule. But that method failed to prevent three Gaza wars and countless smaller eruptions.

(With Inputs from agencies)