Following waves of explosive balloons launched from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory over the last few days, Israel will shut the Gaza Strip’s Kerem Shalom commercial crossing beginning Tuesday morning “until further notice,” the Israeli military liaison to the Palestinians announced.
“The decision was made following security deliberations and in light of repeated terror attacks committed by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip against Israeli citizens, which is a violation of the Israeli sovereignty,” the Coordinator of Government Activity in the Territories (COGAT) said in a statement late Monday.
Fuel and humanitarian aid, including food, would continue to be allowed into the Strip, COGAT said.
More than a dozen blazes were reported in and around Israeli communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip on Monday as incendiary balloon attacks from the Strip continued to increase. Mayors of communities near the Palestinian enclave demanded action against the fire-causing threat.
No injuries were reported, but 400 dunams of land in the Be’eri nature reserve was burned, Channel 12 news reported Monday night.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers fired rockets into the sea, after repeated exchanges of fire with Israel in recent days, Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses said. At least eight rockets were seen in the sky, heading toward the Mediterranean Sea, said AFP journalists in the coastal strip.
Throughout the day, terrorists in Gaza launched balloon-borne explosive and incendiary devices into Israel, causing mid-air blasts and a number of fires in the surrounding regions, according to Israeli officials.
Israeli Air Force planes struck a Hamas observation post in the northern Gaza Strip late Sunday, the IDF said.
“The strike was carried out in response to the launching of incendiary balloons from Gazan territory into Israel over the course of the day,” the army said.
The Hamas-linked al-Resalah news outlet confirmed the report, saying the post was located near Beit Hanoun. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The incident came amid rising tensions along the Gaza border over the past week, reportedly due to delays in the implementation of an ongoing ceasefire agreement between the Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group and the Israeli government.
On Sunday morning, gunshots were fired from the southern Gaza Strip toward civilian workers building the security barrier along the Israel-Gaza border, and then at Israeli troops who arrived at the scene, the military said.
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