In yet another escalation of an ongoing atmosphere of rampaging conflict in the middle east, Israeli jets and tanks struck at a Hamas facility in Gaza. Militants fired half a dozen rockets towards southern Israel, its military said, as mediators struggled to work for calm along the volatile frontier.
Israel’s military said it struck underground infrastructure and a military post belonging to Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas overnight in response to incendiary balloons launched from the Palestinian enclave that have burned Israeli farmland.
Militants then fired six rockets towards Israel, the military said, drawing a second round of Israeli strikes that hit a Hamas armed training camp.
There are no reports of casualties on either side with the United Nation’s Middle East envoy Nickolay E. MLADENOV urging the parties to come to a peaceful conclusion.
In Picture: UN Envoy to the Middle East tweeting about the ongoing situation
Hamas has been trying to pressure Israel to ease its blockade of Gaza and allow more investment, in part by letting Palestinians launch dozens of helium balloons carrying incendiary material towards southern Israel in recent weeks.
Amidst high tension, Israel has closed its only commercial crossing with Gaza, banned sea access and halted fuel imports into the Mediterranean coastal strip, leading to its only power plant shutting down last week.
Israel has struck Hamas facilities almost nightly for the past two weeks, saying it would not tolerate the balloons. There are further concerns of the blackouts resulting in an extension of the ongoing healthcare crisis with potentially millions at risk.
Mediators from several Western and Arab countries have offered to aid in a peaceful settlement of the dispute working in tandem with the United Nations. This stems primarily from the possibility of the already precarious situation being worsened by further escalations at the same time as a global pandemic.
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