BFF-37 Two hurt as Israel hits Gaza targets over ‘arson balloons’

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ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-CONFLICT-BALLOONS

Two hurt as Israel hits Gaza targets over ‘arson balloons’

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, Aug 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – An Israeli
drone attacked a Palestinian militant base in the northern Gaza Strip on
Sunday, moderately injuring two people, security officials in the Hamas-ruled
territory said.

They said the facility, north of Beit Lahiya, was used by a small group
known as Al-Mujahedeen, which despite its name that means holy warriors in
Arabic is not a Salafist movement.

The Israeli military said one of its aircraft fired at two targets in the
strip’s northern area, describing one of them as “a vehicle that served a
terrorist squad for launching arson balloons”.

It also attacked “a terrorist squad that was launching arson balloons from
the northern Gaza Strip into Israel”, the army said in an English-language
statement.

Palestinians in Gaza have been flying balloons and kites carrying
incendiary devices across the border into Israel, starting hundreds of fires.

It is the latest phase of border demonstrations that began at the end of
March, in which at least 159 Palestinians have been killed while one Israeli
soldier has been shot dead.

According to unconfirmed local media reports, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu was to meet members of his security cabinet later Sunday
to discuss a possible truce with Hamas.

Hamas leaders have been meeting in Gaza over the weekend but no details of
their talks have emerged.

According to a senior Hamas source, they were expected to deal with UN and
Egyptian ceasefire proposals and the lifting of Israel’s decade-long blockade
of the Palestinian enclave.

Israel insists its blockade is necessary to isolate Hamas, with which it
has fought three wars since 2008.

Critics say it amounts to collective punishment of the coastal territory’s
two million residents.

BSS/AFP/SSS/1700 hrs