ISRAEL STRIKES HAMAS IN GAZA OVER FIRE BALLOONS

TEL AVIV/GAZA Israeli aircraft and tanks struck Hamas facilities in Gaza on Friday and militants fired half a dozen rockets towards southern Israel, its military said, as mediators struggled to work for calm along the volatile frontier.

There were no reports of casualties on either side. The United Nations’ Middle East envoy urged Israel and Gaza militants to halt the violence.

Israel’s military said it struck underground infrastructure and a military post belonging to Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas overnight in response to incendiary balloons launched from the Palestinian enclave that have burned Israeli farmland. Gaza militants then fired six rockets towards Israel, the military said, drawing a second round of Israeli strikes which hit a Hamas armed training camp.

An Israeli military spokesman said he did not have any information on where the Gaza rockets landed, but that none of them were intercepted by its Iron Dome system.

Hamas has been trying to pressure Israel to ease its blockade of Gaza and allow more investment, in part by letting Palestinians launch dozens of helium balloons carrying incendiary material towards southern Israel in recent weeks.

Israel has struck Hamas facilities almost nightly for the past two weeks, saying it would not tolerate the balloons.

Reuters