The Israeli air force struck terrorist targets in Gaza early Wednesday after Hamas hit southern Israel with a wave of arson attacks caused by fire balloons. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeted compounds belonging to the Islamic terrorist group Hamas as part of its latest counter-terrorism measure, news reports confirm.
The Hamas’s arson offensive, which began on Tuesday, sparked dozens of fires in southern Israel. Twenty fires “broke out in the Eshkol and Sha’ar Hanegev regions immediately adjacent to the Gaza Strip throughout the day, which investigators determined were started by airborne arson attacks from Gaza,” The Times of Israel noted on Tuesday.
The incendiary balloon continued on Wednesday, with more fires blazing in southern Israel. “Incendiary balloons spark four fresh fires in south,” the Israeli news website added on Wednesday.
The Jerusalem Post reported the new Israeli government’s response to Hamas’s ecological terrorism.
The IDF struck a number of military sites belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night in response to 20 fires sparked by incendiary balloons earlier in the day.”The IDF is prepared for all scenarios, including the resumption of hostilities, in the face of continued terrorist acts from the Gaza Strip,” said the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit in a statement. (…)The strikes come after dozens of Palestinians rioted and clashed with the IDF along the Gaza border on Tuesday, as tensions rose surrounding a flag march through the Old City of Jerusalem. (…)Video from southern Israel on Tuesday afternoon showed large amounts of smoke in the border area due to the riots. The riots continued into the night as the Night Confusion Units in Gaza returned to operation, launching explosives and burning tires. One Palestinian was shot by the IDF during the riots on Tuesday evening.
This attack is not the first time Hamas has used arson attacks to terrorize Israeli civilians and devastate the environment. The jihadi group has an incendiary kite unit and had previously deployed explosive-laden drones to target Israeli communities across the Gaza border.
With this latest ecological terror offensive, the Islamic terrorist group Hamas appears to be testing the resolve of the newly formed Israeli government with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at its helm. On Sunday, the Israeli parliament swore in a new center-right coalition government, ending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-Year reign.
The wave of arson attacks comes just weeks after a significant Hamas rocket offensive against Israel. Between May 10-21, the Gaza-based terrorist group and its jihadi allies fired over 4,500 rockets aimed at Israeli civilians.
The latest flare-up in Palestinian terrorism coincides with the Jerusalem Flag march, a traditional parade that marks the Israeli victory in the 1967 Six-Day War. On Tuesday, around 5,000 Israelis marched through the Holy City amid incidents of violence and stone-throwing by angry Palestinians.
“IDF Fighter Jets Strike Hamas Military Compounds”
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