In retaliation for firing incendiary balloons or rockets, as on Thursday evening, the Hebrew state has been bombing Gaza since August 6.
According to security sources, slight damage was observed in Khan Younès, in the south of the Gaza Strip, after the Israeli raid.
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The Israeli army confirmed on Friday that it bombed a Hamas site in the Gaza Strip on Thursday evening in retaliation for rockets fired from the Palestinian enclave into the Hebrew state.
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“After a series of rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza, our air force just hit a Hamas military post used for the manufacture of rocket ammunition,” the IDF said on its Twitter account. “We hold Hamas responsible for all terrorist activities emanating from Gaza”, adds the Israeli army, which specifies having intercepted three rockets thanks to its system of defense “Iron Dome”.
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Palestinian security sources had earlier reported Israeli bombings in Gaza, information also confirmed by residents there. According to security sources, slight damage was observed in Khan Younès, in the south of the Gaza Strip, after the Israeli raid. The IDF also reported on Twitter that it bombed “Hamas infrastructure used to build tunnels in Gaza” in response to “high explosive balloons launched from Gaza into Israel throughout the day.”
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The tightened blockade
The Hebrew state has been bombing the Gaza Strip almost every night since August 6, in response to the launching of incendiary balloons, or more rarely rockets, from this enclave of two million inhabitants towards Israel.
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Israel also tightened its blockade on Gaza, in force for more than a decade, by prohibiting Gazan fishermen from going out to sea and by closing the only point of passage for goods between Gaza and Israel, which has hampered fuel deliveries. and contributed to the “complete closure” on Tuesday of the only power plant in this Palestinian territory.
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Since the exchange of fire began two weeks ago, Israel had mainly carried out airstrikes, and tank fire was seen Thursday by security sources in Gaza as a possible desire for de-escalation by Israel. These exchanges of fire took place after the visit to Gaza and Israel of a delegation from Egypt, an Arab country bordering this Palestinian territory and having already signed peace with the Hebrew State (1979), and which had notably played intermediaries last year to promote a truce between the two camps.
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But despite this truce, which included millions of dollars in financial aid from the Emirate of Qatar to Gaza, Hamas and Israel clash sporadically. Rockets and incendiary balloons, for example, have been fired in recent months from Gaza towards Israel, in order to urge the Jewish state to allow the transit of these sums or, more generally, to try to lift the blockade.
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List of requests
But the truce also provided for the financing of development projects in the Gaza Strip and the granting of work permits in Israel to Gazan workers, in order to give a little oxygen to the economy in this enclave where the rate of unemployment exceeds 50%, of which more than 65% among young people. According to corroborating sources interviewed by AFP, it is these issues that are at the heart of the current dispute between Hamas and Israel.
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According to a source close to Hamas requesting anonymity, the Israeli government told the Egyptian delegation that it expected a “return to calm” before considering the “implementation” of parts of the agreement of truce such as “the extension of the industrial zone of eastern Gaza” and the construction of a new power line to the enclave. Hamas has demanded to double the number of Gazan workers who can cross into Israel to work there to 10,000 to 10,000 once anti-Covid measures are lifted, according to this source.
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Finally, the truce agreement provided for monthly financial assistance of 30 million dollars (27 million francs) until the end of September. However, according to the same source close to Hamas, “Qatar has agreed to increase the financial subsidy by 10 million dollars (9 million francs) per month”. The chairman of the Qatar committee for the reconstruction of Gaza, Ambassador Mohammed Al Emadi, on Wednesday evening said “intensive efforts to contain the escalation” between Israel and Hamas. On Thursday morning, Qatar did not comment on the information on the renewal and enhancement of its aid to Gaza.
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(AFP/NXP)
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