GAZA CITY, (Palestinian Territories): Palestinian militants again launched incendiary balloons from Gaza Wednesday, hours after Israeli strikes in response to earlier cross-border fire attacks, the first flare-up since hundreds were killed in last month’s conflict.
The air strikes on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza were the first under Israel’s new government headed by Naftali Bennett, whose ideologically disparate coalition on Sunday ousted long-serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A fire department spokesman told AFP that teams were tackling “four fires started by balloons launched Wednesday afternoon from the Gaza Strip”, marking a second consecutive day of such fires.
There was no indication of any casualties.
Tensions also rose again in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army said they shot a Palestinian woman, alleging she had attempted to ram soldiers with a car and then stab them.
The renewed violence came a day after Jewish ultranationalist demonstrators poured into Jerusalem’s flashpoint Old City, where scores of police clashed with Palestinians to clear a route for the procession.
With tensions high, Israeli police were deployed in numbers for the delayed march, blocking roads and firing stun grenades and foam-tipped bullets to disperse Palestinians from the route.
Medics said 33 Palestinians were wounded. Police said two officers were injured and 17 people arrested.
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