IDF aircraft bombed several sites belonging to the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip for a fifth night in a row, the army said early Sunday.
Shortly after that announcement, the IDF said Palestinian terrorists in Gaza fired two rockets into southern Israel that were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. Debris from one of the rockets damaged a home in the southern Israeli city of Sderot. Two people were reportedly suffering from shock.
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The IDF said the airstrikes were in response to arson balloons that Hamas-affiliated groups launched across the Gaza frontier into Israeli territory. The balloons have caused dozens of fires that burned Israeli farmland in recent days.
On Saturday, dozens of Palestinians took part in nighttime protests along the Gaza-Israel security fence. The IDF said the protesters "burned tires, hurled explosive devices and grenades towards the security fence and attempted to approach it."
The Gaza health ministry said two demonstrators were wounded by Israeli gunfire.
Israel reiterated its position that Hamas bears responsibility for all violent acts from the Palestinian territory.
After months of calm reinforced by the coronavirus pandemic, the Gaza-Israel frontier has turned volatile over the past week.
Another factor behind the recent escalation appears tied to Qatar's decision to cease its monthly injection of cash to Gaza and seeming unwillingness to renew its grant for a period of six more months. Qatar has transferred millions of dollars in cash to Gaza every month for the past two years for humanitarian purposes.
On Saturday, Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, accused Israel of not honoring an informal truce to ease the blockade it has imposed on Gaza since Hamas took it over in 2007.
He told Hamas' al-Aqsa TV that the Palestinian people in Gaza were experiencing "slow death" by the blockade. "The zone of confrontation with the enemy is expanding day after day in response to its continued aggression," he said.
He said Egyptian mediators were expected to visit the region to discuss reinforcing the truce, but no timing has been set.
Last Wednesday, Defense Minister Benny Gantz adopted the recommendation of IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories to ramp up the economic pressure on Hamas in an attempt to force the terrorist group to stop launching incendiary objects over the border.
Two of the measures approved by Gantz were to prevent fuel from entering Gaza and to reduce Gaza fishing zones from 15 nautical miles to eight nautical miles, both until further notice.
"The decision was made in light of the repeated acts of terror from the Gaza Strip against Israeli civilians in recent days, which represent a violation of Israeli sovereignty," the IDF said in a statement.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called the measure to restrict fuel supplies a "grave act of aggression" that "aims to worsen the crisis of our people in the blockaded Strip."
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