IDF aircraft attacked several Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Tuesday after a rocket was launched at southern Israel earlier in the night, landing in an open field.
No injuries or damage to property was reported.
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Sirens blared throughout the southern city of Ashkelon as Mayor Tomer Glam hosted Education Minister Yoav Galant for a tour of the city.
For the past week, Palestinian youth groups affiliated with Hamas, the terrorist group that seized control of Gaza from rival Fatah forces in a military coup in 2007, have launched numerous airborne explosives into Israel, mostly by strapping them to balloons.
Israel has repeatedly stated that as the sovereign power in the Strip, Hamas is accountable for these incidents.
Incendiary balloons and other objects launched from the Palestinian enclave throughout the day on Tuesday ignited at least 39 fires.
Israeli firefighters, Jewish National Fund and Israel Nature and Parks Authority teams, IDF soldiers, and civilian volunteers worked from the morning hours to extinguish the flames.
Most fires were "small and not dangerous," an Israel Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson said in a statement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Tuesday evening with the heads of Gaza-area communities, saying "We have adopted a policy of equating arson terror attacks with rocket attacks. We've been bombarding Hamas and terror infrastructure for the past 10 days.
"Unfortunately we are also preparing, if necessary, for the possibility of a round or rounds [of military operations]. I hope we won't reach that. Hamas will make a grave mistake if it continues [with the arson attacks]," he concluded.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz invited leaders from Gaza-adjacent communities for a meeting at his office in Tel Aviv, Wednesday.
Egyptian mediators arrived in Gaza on Monday in an effort to reduce tensions and prevent a new cross-border conflict between Israel and Hamas but departed without appearing to have secured a resolution.
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