Israeli aircraft carried out airstrikes on targets in the Gaza Strip in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday morning, hitting Hamas targets and infrastructure.The strikes landed near the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, according to Palestinian reports.
"IDF fighter jets and aircraft attacked an underground infrastructure belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip," the IDF's Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement.The military added that the attack was carried out in response to incendiary balloons sent from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory throughout the day, in addition to consequent fires which burned a preschool and some 150 hectares of agricultural land.
An incendiary balloon landed in front of a Sderot preschool on Monday, starting a fire in the region. While some 35 children attend the preschool on a daily basis, it was fortunately empty at the time and no injuries were reported, according to Maariv, The Jerusalem Post's sister publication. The building did suffer structural damage, however.
The airstrikes took place only hours after an Egyptian envoy left the Strip in an attempt to mediate in order to prevent an escalation between Hamas and Israel, as well as after the Gazan balloon units threatened on Monday night to "burn everything in the Gaza envelope" on Tuesday.Israel has launched several attacks on targets in the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave over the past week, due to increasing launches of incendiary balloons from the Strip into the South, as well as rocket attacks.On Sunday, five Israelis were wounded when Hamas fired rockets toward southern Israel.Fragments from interceptor rockets slammed into the yard of a home in Sderot, damaging the home and injuring a 58-year-old man, the IDF said in a statement at the time.
Two other women were treated for shock, while another two hurt themselves while running to the bomb shelter.In response to these actions, Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned Hamas on Sunday that the IDF would continue to strike targets in the Strip until all attacks cease.“Every explosive balloon or rocket landing in Israel, and violating its sovereignty, holds one return address: Hamas. By launching rockets and explosive balloons, the heads of Hamas are undermining the interests of the residents of Gaza and are impairing their ability to live in dignity and security,” he said.Tzvi Joffre, Tovah Lazaroff and Anna Ahronheim contributed to this report.