Israel strikes Gaza in response to incendiary balloons

The Israeli military has confirmed an aircraft attack in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, retaliating against incendiary balloons deployed by Hamas.

The attack comes barely two days after the ousting of Israel’s former President Benjamin Netanyahu.

The attack reportedly targeted Hamas armed compounds in response to Incendiary Balloons that were deployed from the area.

The balloons caused 10 fires in fields of southern Israel, according to Reuters.

The attacks were the first to occur following an 11-day ceasefire between Israeli and Palestinian forces.

Following the attack, Israeli nationalists marched around Damascus Gate, a site of Palestinian life within east Isreal.

The crowd of mostly young men held blue-and-white Israeli flags while dancing and singing religious songs, the Associated Press reported.

The march also commemorated Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem in 1967.

While the march on Damascus Gate threatened to raise tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, canceling it would’ve possibly gained Bennett and his new government coalition criticism for bowing to Hamas’s wishes rather than supporting Israeli nationalists.

Palestinians have viewed Israeli celebrations at Damascus Gate as demonstrations of Israeli control over an area that they view as their capital.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh of the West Bank Palestinian Authority called the march an “aggression against our people,” according to the Associated Press.

NB: An incendiary balloon is a balloon inflated with a lighter-than-air gas such as hot air, hydrogen, or helium, that has a bomb, incendiary device, or Molotov cocktail attached. The balloon is carried by the prevailing winds to the target area, where it falls or releases its payload