Israel’s political leadership has reportedly instructed the army to prepare for a military offensive in the Gaza Strip, to be initiated if the launching of incendiary devices from the Hamas-run coastal enclave into Israeli territory continues.

According to a Channel 10 news report Tuesday, Israel has set Friday as a deadline for the flaming kite and balloon launches to cease. If this does not happen, Israel may decide it has no choice but to embark on a military campaign in the Strip, the report said.

Israel sent a similar message to Hamas through Egyptian intelligence, Channel 10 reported, with the Palestinian terror group in turn indicating its forces will work to stop the launching of burning materials by Friday.

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On Sunday, the IDF’s 162nd Armored Division launched an exercise simulating a war in the Gaza Strip, including the capture of Gaza City. While the military said it was planned in advance and was not related to the weekend’s exchange of fire, the manner in which the exercise was publicized by the military led many to see it as a tacit threat to Hamas.

Hamas is manning some 60 percent of its positions along the border fence in order to stop the launches, according to the TV report, and is expected to dispatch its forces to all of its posts by Friday.

Citing Palestinian sources, the report said Hamas would only put a complete stop to the flaming kite launches if it can achieve some sort of accomplishment, such as the reopening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. The Palestinian Liberation Organization’s ambassador to Egypt said earlier Tuesday the crossing would reopen on Wednesday after being shuttered for more than 24 hours over technical issues.

The report came as Israeli leaders touted the IDF’s readiness for a military conflict with Hamas amid ongoing violence along the Gaza border.

During a tour on Tuesday of the army’s Gaza Division, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was already in a “military campaign.”

“We are in a military campaign in which there have been exchanges of blows. I am prepared to say that the Israel Defense Forces is prepared for any scenario,” Netanyahu said.

Over the weekend, Hamas fired some 200 rockets and mortar shells at Israel and the IDF carried out multiple strikes inside the Palestinian enclave. That escalation began after an IDF officer was moderately injured by a hand-grenade thrown by a Gaza assailant at the border on Friday.

On Saturday night, a ceasefire of sorts was brokered by Egypt and other international bodies, though Israel was not directly involved in the talks. The violence has abated, but tensions endured and cross-border attacks continued.

Asked if Israel was working to prevent a military conflict with Hamas, Netanyahu defended the government’s actions.

“I believe that we are doing the right things. It would be worthwhile to pay attention not only to what we are saying, but to what we are doing,” he said.

Netanyahu was joined on the visit by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, and the head of the Shin Bet security service, Nadav Argaman.

While the senior officials were meeting in the Gaza Division on Tuesday, a number of incendiary and apparently booby-trapped balloons were launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip. A total of 17 fires started by airborne devices from Gaza were reported on Tuesday, including one that landed in the yard of a preschool where children were playing.

In response to the arson attacks, an Israeli drone conducted an airstrike near a group of Palestinians launching incendiary balloons from the northern Gaza Strip, injuring two of them, according to the Hamas-linked Shehab news outlet.

The Israeli military confirmed that one of its aircraft carried out the strike.

In recent days, the Israel Defense Forces has stepped up this practice, after the security cabinet called on it to take a more forceful stance against the airborne arson attacks on Sunday.

Recent months have seen daily arson attacks from Gaza with incendiary kites and balloons that have burned thousands of acres of Israeli land; regular riots and clashes along the border, which have resulted in over 130 Palestinians killed by IDF gunfire; and occasional outbursts of mortar and rocket fire by Gaza terrorist groups, which have prompted dozens of Israeli retaliatory airstrikes against Hamas positions. Dozens of the dead were members of Hamas and other terror groups, they have acknowledged.

This violence has raised tensions between Israel and Hamas to the highest they have been since the 2014 Gaza war.

In recent days, many officials and commentators in Israel, Gaza, and the international community have warned that another war in the Palestinian enclave was imminent in light of increased violence along the border, unless actions were taken to calm the situation. </s> Israeli leadership has reportedly instructed the country's military forces to prepare to invade the Gaza Strip if the flaming kite attacks don't cease by this week, according to a Channel 10 news report cited by The Times of Israel.According to the report, Israel has given Hamas until Friday to stop its flaming kite and balloon attacks;Israel sent the message directly to Hamas via Egyptian intelligence services, Channel 10 reported.On Sunday, the Israeli 162nd Armored Division launched a military exercise simulating an attack on the Gaza Strip and a capture of Gaza City. While the Israeli military claims the exercise had been planned in advance and was not related to current events, some saw it as an indirect threat to Hamas.On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the IDF's Gaza Division. During the visit, he said that the country is already in the midst of a "military campaign.""We are in a military campaign in which there have been exchanges of blows. I am prepared to say that the Israel Defense Forces is prepared for any scenario," Netanyahu said.During the last few months, Israel has suffered numerous attacks by kites, balloons and other objects that act as flying incendiary bombs. Thousands of acres of land are reported to have been burned by these attacks. In addition, Israel reports numerous sporadic clashes with Palestinians and mortar and rocket fire at Israeli territory. The Times of Israel has noted that </s> Israeli leadership has reportedly instructed the country's military forces to prepare to invade the Gaza Strip if the flaming kite attacks don't cease by this week, according to a Channel 10 news report cited by The Times of Israel.

According to the report, Israel has given Hamas until Friday to stop its flaming kite and balloon attacks; if Hamas fails to comply with the demand, Israel might decide it has no choice but to start a large-scale military operation.

On Sunday, the Israeli 162nd Armored Division launched a military exercise simulating an attack on the Gaza Strip and a capture of Gaza City. While the Israeli military claims the exercise had been planned in advance and was not related to current events, some saw it as an indirect threat to Hamas.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the IDF's Gaza Division. During the visit, he said that the country is already in the midst of a "military campaign."

"We are in a military campaign in which there have been exchanges of blows. I am prepared to say that the Israel Defense Forces is prepared for any scenario," Netanyahu said.

The report comes right as the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, has stripped the country's prime minister and defense minister of the ability to declare war. The new legislation adopted Tuesday delegates this power to the Security Cabinet — a body of several officials, including the ministers of foreign relations and finance.

During the last few months, Israel has suffered numerous attacks by kites, balloons and other objects that act as flying incendiary bombs. Thousands of acres of land are reported to have been burned by these attacks. In addition, Israel reports numerous sporadic clashes with Palestinians and mortar and rocket fire at Israeli territory. The Times of Israel has noted that the level of tension between Israel and the Gaza Strip has reached an apex not seen since the 2014 Gaza war. </s> Sign up for one of our email newsletters.

JERUSALEM — Israeli airstrikes pummeled Hamas targets in Gaza, killing four Palestinians, mostly Hamas operatives, after Palestinian snipers killed an Israeli soldier near the border Friday, officials said.

The military said a “terrorist squad” fired at troops, and one soldier was severely injured and later died of his wounds. He was the first Israeli military fatality in months of violence along the Gaza border.

After the Palestinian gunfire, Israel’s military said, it struck 25 Hamas positions, including weapon warehouses, command and control centers, training facilities, observation posts and other sites.

It said “fighter jets commenced a wide-scale attack against Hamas military targets throughout the Gaza Strip.” It added that “Hamas chose to escalate the security situation and will bear the consequences for its actions.”

The Gaza Health Ministry said four Palestinians were killed. The militant Islamic Hamas that rules Gaza said three of the dead were members of the group. Gaza media reported that gunmen had fired mortars toward the border.

Sirens wailed Friday night in parts of southern Israel warning of incoming Palestinian rockets. Israel said two were intercepted by its Iron Dome aerial defense system.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with military brass Friday night to assess the developments, media reported.

Earlier Friday, Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited Sderot, an Israeli town near Gaza that has been hard hit by Palestinian rockets over the years. “The heads of Hamas are forcibly leading us to a no choice situation in which we will need to embark on wide and painful military operation,” Lieberman said.

On Saturday, Israel pounded Hamas targets in its largest bombardment campaign since the 2014 war, as Gaza militants fired dozens of rockets toward Israel.

Israel says it has no interest is engaging in another war with Hamas but says it will no longer tolerate the Gaza militant campaign of daily flying incendiary kites and balloons across the border that have torched Israeli crops, burned nature reserves and killed wildlife.

Hamas on Friday vowed it will continue weekly protests and the launching of incendiary devices at Israel.

Khalil al-Hayya, a top Hamas leader, said “the protests will remain, flaming and existing, and its tools will multiply and diversify, including kites, until our goals are achieved.”

For the first time, an incendiary balloon of the kind used in Gaza was found in the garden of a southeast Jerusalem home close to the Palestinian town of Beit Jala. Police sappers dealt with the device.

The weekly protests led by Hamas against Israel are meant in part to draw attention to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after the militant group assumed control of Gaza in 2007.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Palestinians hurled seven grenades and several explosive devices at troops along the border on Friday. There were no Israeli casualties.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 80 Palestinians were wounded by gunfire in that rally.

The demonstrations have been fueled in large part by pervasive despair caused by the blockade which has caused widespread economic hardship.

Over 135, mostly unarmed, Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the border protests began on March 30.

Israel says it is defending its sovereign border and accuses Hamas, a group sworn to its destruction, of using the protests as cover for attempts to breach the border fence and attack civilians and soldiers. </s> The Israel Defense Forces on Monday held a large-scale military drill simulating a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip.

The drill in the country’s Negev region, which involved infantry and armored corps, included exercises in urban warfare, with the city of Beersheba serving as a surrogate for Gaza’s cities, Channel 10 news reported. The drill began Sunday and will continue on Tuesday, and exercises include the simulated capture of Gaza City, officials said.

The exercise came after a weekend flareup between Israel and the Hamas terror group in the Strip, in which some 200 rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israel and the IDF carried out multiple strikes inside the Palestinian enclave.

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On Saturday night, a ceasefire of sorts was brokered by Egypt and other international bodies, though Israel was not directly involved in the talks. The violence abated to some degree, but tensions endured and cross-border attacks continued.

On Monday, the Security Cabinet was briefed on the Home Front Command’s preparedness for conflict, while the army deployed additional Iron Dome Missile Defense systems in central Israel, and called up some reserve forces to better handle security needs.

Monday’s exercise — which the IDF invited local media to film, and which was detailed on the evening’s main news broadcasts — appeared intended to send a message to Hamas that Israel was prepared to take drastic action, if needed, to bring peace back to the communities in the Gaza periphery, which have also endured weeks of “fire kite” attacks launched from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. At the same time, the military said the drill was planned in advance and not in the wake of the weekend’s exchange of fire.

The IDF’s Gaza Division recruited reserve drivers Monday to help Israel’s fire department and the army deal with blazes in southern Israel caused by the airborne arson attacks.

Also Monday, the military completed deployment of another Iron Dome Missile Defense system in central Israel. The deployment came as part of the army’s preparations for the possibility that Hamas will instruct its operatives to fire long-range rockets at the heart of Israel.

Taking part in the drill, Ohad Najameh, commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, said he believed penetrating deep into Gaza would not take long, but that a decisive victory over Hamas would take some time.

“In order to win, we need to confront the enemy, and we want to confront them on our terms, in our time,” Najameh told Hadashot TV news. “We’ve developed the tools and the exercises so that we will be the stronger side when we meet Hamas.”

Najameh further stated that the IDF was prepared to strike Hamas leadership, and had detailed plans regarding the group’s top officials. “I believe that striking senior officials will deal a significant blow and will affect the battlefield,” he said. “And yes, we will try to strike them.”

“We are ready and speaking in terms of war [that could come] toworrow,” Lt. Col. Barak Rubin, deputy commander of the Nahal infanty brigade, told Channel 10. “It occurs to me that this drill could become a real entry into the Strip.”

He added: “The purpose is decisive action, that when I meet the enemy, I will be able to defeat him and destroy him. We’re preparing surprises on our side, tools the other side is unaware of.”

Lt. Col. Eli Gino, deputy commander of the Givati infanty brigade, added that the commanders and the military as a whole had implemented lessons from the 2014 war in the Strip. “We’ve learned and we’ve improved,” he said.

Over the course of approximately 24 hours Saturday, southern Israel and the Gaza Strip saw one of the largest exchanges of fire since the 2014 Gaza war.

On Friday evening, an IDF soldier was moderately wounded when a Palestinian threw a grenade at him during a riot along the Gaza security fence. In response, shortly after midnight on Friday, the Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes against Hamas positions in the coastal enclave.

Hamas, which rules Gaza, along with the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups in the Strip, launched a barrage of mortar shells and rockets at southern Israel.

The attacks from Gaza and Israeli retaliatory strikes continued from 1:30 a.m. on Saturday until shortly after 2 a.m. on Sunday, according to the IDF. In Sderot, three people were moderately injured when a rocket hit a home on Saturday. Hamas’s health ministry said two were killed and over 20 injured in Gaza.

A cessation of hostilities was agreed upon Saturday night, though Israeli officials refused to formally acknowledge it. A senior Israeli defense official would not directly comment on the reported ceasefire, and said: “Facts on the ground will determine our continued response.”

Incendiary kites and balloons continued to be flown into Israel on Sunday and Monday, and Israel has struck in the enclave in response.

Hamas has said it does not see these weapons, which have plagued Israel and sparked numerous fires, as illegitimate or a breach of the agreement. As such, the Gaza-ruling terror group maintains that Israeli strikes in response to these airborne arson attacks amount to violations of the ceasefire.

On Monday members of Israel’s Security Cabinet along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the IDF’s Home Front Command headquarters and discussed preparations for emergency situations and earthquake scenarios in civilian areas — another growing concern. Netanyahu also visited the rocket-battered Gaza border town of Sderot.

During the tour, the Security Cabinet announced its intention to formulate a 10-year plan that will see NIS 5 billion ($1.38 billion) spent on fortification of infrastructure on the home front, against attacks and earthquakes.

The national initiative will be planned by a joint team headed by the National Security Council, the Defense Ministry, the Finance Ministry, and other government ministries, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. </s> Gaza, July 18 (IANS) Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza strip, has announced it will gradually halt the launch of incendiary kites and balloons towards Israel, the media reported.

The kites, some of which Israel says are also booby-trapped with explosives, have wreaked havoc in the Israeli communities surrounding the Gaza Strip since the phenomenon began in April, sparking fires that have scorched thousands of acres and caused vast damage.

Hamas made the announcement on Tuesday, according to Efe news. Reports said that the group leadership decided to take action against the flaming kites “to prevent dragging Gaza into a war”.

An agreement was reached after talks between Egypt and the UN Special Coordinator (UNSCO) for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, as he mediates with the Palestinians.

According to the UNSCO website, the Bulgarian diplomat appealed to the Palestinians to pull back from “the brink of a confrontation” and to “give peace a chance”.

Multiple parties including Egypt also told Hamas that the kites must be stopped “to prevent giving Israel an excuse to launch a major military offensive”.

Hamas has now deployed its security members along the Israeli-Gazan border to deter the launch of further incendiary objects.

The launch of incendiary flying objects began on March 30 coinciding with the Palestinian Great March of Return on its Gazan border with Israel, under Israeli blockade since 2007.

Palestinian kites and balloons have caused over 700 fires on Israeli soil and damaged Israeli farmlands.

Last weekend tensions in Gaza rose after the launch of 200 rockets, the biggest escalation since 2014, followed by Israeli forces reprisal operations and bombings targeting Hamas military objectives in Gaza, which killed two Palestinian minors.

The Israeli Defence Ministry has tightened its Gaza fishing waters restrictions from six to three nautical miles and maintains the closure of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the only passage authorized for freight trucks carrying goods from Israel or Egypt to the Gaza Strip. </s> The Israeli military said early Wednesday that it conducted airstrikes on the Gaza Strip against two targets belonging to Hamas.

On its Twitter account, the Israeli Defense Forces said it considered Hamas responsible for rockets allegedly fired towards Israeli territory, and as retaliation, it targeted two observation posts in northern Gaza.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, in a statement, said quick retaliation by the resistance movement was necessary as Israel is increasing tensions, targeting Palestinian resisters and peaceful protesters. He did not clearly claim responsibility on behalf of the organization for the alleged rocket attacks on Israel, however.

Israeli warplanes on Tuesday fired missiles toward a group of Palestinians flying incendiary kites in the eastern Gaza Strip.

Palestinian activists have been flying incendiary kites and balloons toward Israeli territory as part of ongoing demonstrations near the Israel-Gaza security fence that began on March 30.

Since the protests began, at least 132 Palestinian demonstrators have been martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli army gunfire.

Protesters demand the “right of return” to their homes in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel’s decade-long blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of basic commodities. </s> JERUSALEM (JTA) — Code Red rocket warning sirens sounded throughout southern Israeli communities near the border with Gaza as more than a dozen rockets were launched from the coastal strip at civilian communities.

The rockets were fired between 1:45 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Wednesday morning, sending thousands of civilian residents of southern Israel to bomb shelters and safe rooms. At least three were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

Elementary schools and kindergartens, which are in regular session though the end of the month, opened as usual Wednesday morning.

The rockets came hours after the Israeli military fired on a vehicle belonging to a Hamas operative heavily involved in launching arson kites and balloons from the Gaza Strip into Israel as well as two Hamas observation posts in northern Gaza. The attacks were in response to repeated arson attacks from Gaza, according to the IDF. Several fires were sparked in southern Israeli communities on Tuesday due to the incendiary balloons.

“The Hamas terror organization will bear the consequences for facilitating terror and instability,” the IDF said following the rocket attacks.

The IDF has begun to fire warning shots at Gazan Palestinian groups preparing to launch burning kites and balloons and to retaliate for the arson attacks with air strikes on Hamas targets. Gazan Palestinian groups have retaliated for the air strikes with early morning rocket attacks on several occasions in recent days. </s> JERUSALEM >> The Israeli military lifted its restrictions along the Gaza border Sunday, indicating it had accepted an Egypt-mediated cease-fire that ended a 24-hour round of fighting with Hamas militants that had threatened to devolve into all-out war.

The military had shut down a popular beach and placed limitations on large gatherings as residents kept mostly close to home on Saturday amid dozens of rockets that were fired from Gaza. But after several hours of calm it said residents could resume their daily routines.

On Saturday, the military carried out its largest wave of airstrikes in Gaza since the 2014 war, hitting several Hamas military compounds and flattening a number of its training camps. Two Palestinian teenagers were killed in an airstrike in Gaza City, while four Israelis were wounded from a rocket that landed on a residential home.

The military said several mortar shells were fired even after Hamas announced the cease-fire as sirens warning of incoming projectiles wailed in Israel overnight again. The military struck the mortar launcher early Sunday but the calm held, with neither side appearing eager to resume hostilities.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not accept a cease-fire unless it included an end to all militant hostilities, including incendiary kites and balloons from Gaza that have devastated nearby Israeli farmlands and nature reserves.

“The Israeli military has delivered its most punishing blow against Hamas since the 2014 war. I hope they got the message. If not, they will get it later on,” he said at the weekly cabinet meeting.

After several balloons drifted into Israel Sunday, the military said it targeted the Hamas squad that had launched them from the northern Gaza Strip.

Hamas police also announced an explosion Sunday at a house in Gaza City that killed a father and son, aged 35 and 13. The explosion appeared to be an accidental blast related to militant stock piles of explosives. Hamas said it would investigate.

Israel said it unleashed Saturday’s barrage in response to weeks of violence along Gaza’s border — including a grenade attack Friday that wounded an officer — as well as sustained Hamas rocket attacks and a campaign of incendiary devices floating over the border.

Hamas responded with more than 200 projectiles toward Israel communities, evoking memories of the three wars the sides have waged over the past decade. Israel said its Iron Dome defense system shot down more than 20 projectiles.

On Sunday evening the military announced that following a “situation assessment” it had reinforced Iron Dome batteries in central Israel and in the south of the country. It added that a small number of reserve army soldiers were called up.

Israel also destroyed several Hamas attack tunnels, as well as factories involved in the production of the incendiary kites and balloons, and a Hamas battalion headquarters in northern Gaza.

“We have no intention of tolerating rockets, kites, drones or anything,” said Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. “I hope that Hamas will draw conclusions and if not, they will have to pay a heavy price.”

Two teenagers were killed and several others were wounded when Israel struck an unfinished five-story building near a Hamas security compound and a public park in Gaza City, reducing the structure to rubble. The military said Hamas was using it as a training facility and had dug a tunnel underneath as part of its underground network.

The rare strike in the heart of Gaza City blew out windows at a nearby mosque, an art gallery, government offices, a tech start-up company and dozens of houses, leaving light fixtures and wiring dangling. The Al-Azhar university said its classrooms and the dentistry college lab were also damaged.

Speaking to thousands attending the two teenagers’ funeral, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh vowed to continue Gaza protests and to take revenge for the teens. He also met with the U.N. Mideast envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, who urged both sides to maintain calm

“Yesterday we were on the brink of war, and it has taken the concerted efforts of everyone to make sure that we step back from confrontation,” Mladenov said in Gaza. “Everybody needs to take a step back.”

The strike that killed the teenagers unleashed a Hamas’ launch toward the Israeli border town of Sderot, where a rocket hit the Buchris family home.

“We were sitting in the living room and all of a sudden, the aquarium exploded and there was smoke everywhere and glass flew everywhere,” said Aharon Buchris, who was wounded along with his wife and two teenage daughters, as he awaited surgery in hospital.

Israel has been warning Hamas that while it has no interest in exacerbating hostilities, it will not tolerate Gaza militants’ continued efforts to breach the border and its campaign of incendiary attacks on Israeli border communities.

Hamas-led border protests are aimed in part at drawing attention to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. Over 130 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since protests began on March 30.

With Israel focused on efforts to prevent Iran from establishing a permanent military foothold in neighboring Syria, it has been wary of escalating violence in Gaza. Netanyahu has also come under pressure from southern Israeli communities under rocket fire from Gaza.

Hamas, meanwhile, has been trying to break out of its isolation and spotlight the hardships of the impoverished strip without invoking the full wrath of Israel.

Associated Press writer Fares Akram in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.
The Israel Defense Forces are instructed to prepare for a large-scale military offensive in Gaza if demands for Hamas to halt the launches of flaming kites, incendiary devices and rocket attacks are not met by Friday.