Gaza’s Kerem Shalom briefly closed after Palestinian drone hovers above
Closure of the crossing comes in the aftermath of Monday’s launch of two incendiary balloons from Gaza into Israel. The balloons exploded in the air and did not cause any damage.
By TOVAH LAZAROFF, ANNA AHRONHEIMA member of Palestinian security forces gestures as a fuel tanker arrives at Kerem Shalom crossing in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip August 15, 2018(photo credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS)
Israel briefly closed Gaza’s main commercial and humanitarian crossing at Kerem Shalom to all goods Monday morning after a Palestinian drone was spotted flying above the area.“During the morning, there was a drone that was identified flying over the crossing,” said a spokesperson for the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). “Our forces in the area were following the drone the entire time that it was airborne.”“The drone was only over the crossing for a short time” the spokesperson explained, adding that the passageway “was closed for half an hour” and then was reopened.The Palestinian drone over Kerem Shalom follows Monday’s launch of two incendiary balloons from Gaza into Israel that exploded into the air and that did not cause any damage.Israel, in return, struck two Hamas posts in Gaza.There are only two other crossing into Gaza, a pedestrian one at Erez and an Egyptian one at Rafah. But the Egyptian crossing is not set up to handle a massive influx of goods into the Hamas-led enclave of two million Palestinians.
