Gaza City: The Israeli air force launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip early on June 15 after militants in the Palestinian territory sent incendiary balloons into southern Israel, security sources and witnesses said.
The airstrikes and balloons marked the first major flare-up between Israel and Gaza since a ceasefire on May 21 ended 11 days of heavy fighting that killed 260 Palestinians, according to Gaza authorities, and 13 people in Israel, the police and army there said.
According to Palestinian sources, Israel’s air force targeted at least one site east of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younes.
Around 1,000 apartments, offices and shops were destroyed in the latest round of fighting in May in Gaza, an impoverished enclave of two million controlled by the Hamas Islamist group.
The strikes were Israel’s first against Gaza since a new coalition government took over recently, ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after 12 years in power.
The US and UN had called for restraint before the march, which the government of new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had authorized.
Medics said 33 Palestinians were wounded and police said two officers were injured and 17 people were arrested. (NDTV)
