Egypt Mediators Enter Gaza after Week of Clashes with Israel

  • 8/17/2020
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Egyptian mediators entered Gaza on Monday seeking to calm tensions after a week of clashes in which Israel has launched military strikes in response to airborne incendiary devices that have ignited wildfires. Israel has targeted positions of Hamas, the movement that runs the Palestinian territory, and which it holds responsible for all cross-border attacks from the coastal enclave. The delegation from Egypt, which has traditionally played the role of mediator in the restive Palestinian enclave, entered Gaza at around midday (0900 GMT), according to security sources and eyewitnesses who spoke to AFP. Israeli tanks pounded Hamas targets earlier Monday in what has become a daily response to Palestinian rockets, firebombs that are carried by bunches of balloons into southern Israel, and more recently to clashes on the border. Israel has said that since August 6, fire-scene investigators have identified 149 blazes in southern Israel caused by incendiary balloons floating across from Gaza. The army also reported violent protests on Saturday, as "rioters burned tires, hurled explosive devices and grenades towards the security fence and attempted to approach it". There were more frontier riots on Sunday, the army said. Israel has also closed the Kerem Shalom goods crossing to Gaza and shut the strips fishing zone. With fuel imports blocked, Gazas electricity authority announced that more service cuts would be implemented from Monday, adding to frustrations for Gazans who already endure irregular power supply. Hamas and Israel have fought three wars since 2008, but an uneasy truce brokered last year by the United Nations, Egypt and Qatar helped curb the violence.

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