JERUSALEM: Israeli warplanes overnight bombed the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip after Palestinians fired a rocket into southern Israel, the military said.
The latest exchange came as Israel warned Hamas that it was risking “war” by failing to halt the launching of fire balloons across the border.
Egyptian security officials shuttled between the two sides in an attempt to end the flare-up that has seen more than a week of Gaza rocket and fireball attacks and Israel’s regular reprisals.
“A missile was fired earlier tonight, and explosive and incendiary balloons were launched from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory during the day,” a military statement issued shortly before midnight (2100 GMT) said.
The Islamists had held talks with the Egyptian delegation in Gaza on Monday before leaving the territory for meetings with the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank, a Hamas source told AFP.
In response to the ongoing balloon attacks, Israel has banned fishing off the coast of Gaza and closed the crossing of the Kerem Shalom products, cutting fuel supplies to the sole power plant in the region.
Just before the outage, power had been in short supply, with customers only having access to electricity for about eight hours a day.
