As terrorists in the Gaza Strip send more and more explosives-laden balloons over the border fence, senior Hamas officials in Gaza have told Israel Hayom that the organization will continue to allow "violent provocations" unless Israel agrees to benefits for the residents of Gaza and promotes Qatari and UN employment initiatives for Gaza.
On Monday, Sderot residents heard three explosions that were reportedly caused by explosive devices attached to balloons that were floated over the city.
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Another arson balloon caused a fire in a field near Route 34, near Kibbutz Erez. In a separate incident, a police sapper defused an explosive device that a balloon from Gaza had dropped on Moshav Nir Moshe.
The past few days have seen an uptick in the number of arson balloons released in the direction of Israel from Gaza, and Hamas' military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, even fired a salvo of over 10 rockets toward the Mediterranean Sea.
Hamas is also demanding that Qatar extend its monthly disbursements of aid money to Gaza for another year and a half. Officially, the Qatari aid was supposed to end this January, but Qatar extended it for another six months, meaning July marked its last infusion of cash into Gaza, unless it decides on another extension.
"Israel is exploiting the fact that the international community is busy with coronavirus and making the difficult economic situation in Gaza worse in order to steer the people's rage toward Hamas," a senior Palestinian official told Israel Hayom.
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"If Israel does not allow measures to ease conditions in Gaza and continues to raise obstacles to the development of initiatives for Gaza, the security situation will only get worse. We don't have anything to lose," the official said.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
