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Israel Strikes Back At Gaza After Explosive Kite Attacks

REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) hit nine targets in northern Gaza overnight Monday in response to explosive kite attacks aimed at southern Israel.

“Moments ago, IAF [Israeli Air Force] fighter jets struck 9 military targets in two military compounds and in a munition manufacturing site belonging to the Hamas terror organization in the northern Gaza Strip,” the IDF’s official Twitter said around midnight on Sunday.

Israel’s airstrikes come in response to explosive kites and balloons that were launched into Israel, endangering the residents living there.

This is not the first time the IDF has had to respond to such incendiary kite attacks, a spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee told CNN. The low-tech ambushes have caused more than 400 fires and burned more than 6,000 acres of farmland and caused about $2 million in damage.

Israel is holding a Palestinian militant organization responsible for the attacks.

“The Hamas terror organization is accountable for all violence emanating from the Gaza Strip and it will bear the consequences,” an IDF spokesperson wrote on Twitter.

The IDF’s Twitter also reported that five terrorists tried to damage security infrastructure in the Northern Gaza Strip until it blew up, injuring several of the “terrorists.”

Weeks of protests broke out on March 30 along the Gaza Strip by Palestinian organizers, supported by Hamas, over a series of issues including the decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and the blockade of the Gaza Strip. They are also demanding that Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to what is now Israel.

Fighting and protests along the Israeli border have escalated in recent weeks, causing Israel to ramp up their attacks. (RELATED: Violent Clashes Leave Dozens Dead As Gaza Protests Escalate With The Opening Of The US Embassy In Jerusalem) 

The United Nations adopted a resolution on June 13 that accused Israel of excessive force against the Palestinians, prompting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley to accuse the organization of anti-Israel bias for not calling out the routine violence perpetrated by Hamas along the border. U.S. officials have since threatened to leave the U.N. Human Rights Council if Israel is not treated more fairly.

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