Israeli aircraft attacked targets in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday for the second day in a row, as tensions rose on the volatile border.
The strikes came in response to explosives-laden balloons that were sent from Gaza into Israel earlier in the day.
“A short time ago an IDF combat helicopter attacked infrastructure used for underground activity by the Hamas terror organization in the northern Gaza Strip. The attack was carried out in response to explosive balloons sent from the Gaza Strip into Israel territory today,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
There were no immediate reports from Gaza on damage or casualties in the strikes.
תיעוד: תקיפת חיל האוויר בצפון רצועת עזה @OrHeller(צילום: דדי פולד, משתלת בן בן) pic.twitter.com/pBYnLsJdff— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) January 16, 2020
Earlier Thursday, at least two clusters of balloons carrying explosive devices were apparently launched from the Strip into southern Israel, with one of them detonating soon after impact, police said.
One of the clusters landed in an open field and the other got tangled in a tree.
Police sappers were called to the scenes in the Sdot Negev region east of Gaza.
One of the devices exploded as the sappers arrived at the scene, causing no injuries or damage, police said.
The sappers collected the remains of the device in order to study what type of explosives were used, a police spokesperson said.
It appeared to mark the renewal of the arson balloon attacks that torched thousands of acres of Israeli fields along the Gaza border in recent years.
That incident came after terrorists — reportedly belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group — also on Wednesday fired four mortar shells from Gaza toward southern Israel, causing neither injury nor damage, according to the army.
Two of the incoming projectiles were intercepted by the military’s Iron Dome air defense system. The other two appeared to strike open fields in Israel’s Sha’ar Hanegev region, east of northern Gaza.
Hours later, the Israeli Air Force launched a series of strikes on Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF, fighter jets attacked several Hamas facilities, including a weapons production site and a military base.
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