An Israeli aircraft fired at a group of Palestinians launching incendiary balloons into southern Israel from the northern Gaza Strip, the army said, breaking two days of relative calm along the border.
The Hamas-run Gazan health ministry said two people were injured in the strike. It listed the injuries as light to moderate.
An incendiary balloon was discovered earlier in the day in the Eshkol region, though it did not start a fire.
As of 8:45 p.m., there had been no fires in southern Israel sparked by airborne arson devices from Gaza, according to a spokesperson for the Fire and Rescue Services southern division.
Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israel would react harshly to any violence coming from Gaza.
“We hit Hamas very hard over the weekend and – if it proves necessary – we will hit them seven-fold,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office
The airstrike was the first in Gaza since Israel hit dozens of Hamas targets on Friday, though tanks struck a pair of observation posts Saturday in response to an attempt to breach the border and an incendiary balloon launch.
The Israeli bombardment came after a Palestinian sniper shot dead an IDF soldier, Staff Sgt. Aviv Levi, 20, along the security fence surrounding the coastal enclave — the first Israeli killed in an attack from Gaza since the 2014 war.
Four Palestinians were killed — three of whom were acknowledged as Hamas fighters.
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