Gaza ceasefire falters again

Gaza militants yesterday fired a barrage of dozens of rockets at Israel, which responded with strikes that killed a Palestinian, officials said, as a fragile ceasefire again faltered.

Israel said around 90 rockets were fired from the Palestinian enclave and its air defences intercepted dozens of them.

The army said it had targeted two rocket launchers in Gaza with an air strike in response and its tanks had hit a number of military posts used by Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the territory.

A Gazan security source said that a series of Israeli strikes hit at least three separate areas of the Gaza Strip and that three “resistance fighters” were wounded.

The Gazan health ministry reported one person killed and several wounded.

No casualties had been reported on the Israeli side.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was planning to hold consultations with security chiefs, a spokesman said.

The escalation follows the most violent clashes along the Gaza border in weeks on Friday. Four Palestinians, including two Hamas militants, were killed after two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a shooting during weekly protests on the border.

Israel and Palestinian militants in the blockaded Gaza Strip have fought three wars since 2008 and fears remain of a fourth.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas brokered by Egypt and the United Nations had led to relative calm around Israel’s April 9 general election.

But on Tuesday, Israel reduced the offshore fishing limit it imposes for vessels operating out of Gaza after a rocket was fired from the territory by Palestinian militants.

On Thursday, Israel said its aircraft struck a Hamas military compound after balloons carrying firebombs and explosives were launched across the border.

Palestinians in Gaza have frequently fitted balloons with firebombs in a bid to damage Israeli property and have in the past succeeded in setting fire to large areas of farmland.

Following the air strike, the Israeli military said two rockets were launched from Gaza toward Israel, setting off sirens in parts of the south.

With the ceasefire at risk, a Hamas delegation led by its Gaza head Yahya Sinwar left the enclave for Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian officials on the truce.

The ceasefire has seen Israel allow Qatar provide millions of dollars in aid to Gaza to pay salaries and to finance fuel purchases to ease a severe electricity shortage.

Palestinians have participated in regular demonstrations and clashes along the Gaza border for more than a year, calling on Israel to ease its crippling blockade of the enclave.

At least 270 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the protests began in March 2018, the majority along the border. Two Israeli soldiers have been killed in that period.