Despite Palestinian threats, Friday protests end relatively peacefully

Yoav Zitun

Only several dozen incendiary kites and balloons dispatched from Gaza Strip in what was likely the calmest Friday since Gazans’ launched their weekend fence protests in late March; on Friday evening, an IAF aircraft attacks an unmanned Hamas observation post from where balloons were flown into Israel earlier.

An Israel Air Force aircraft on Friday evening attacked an unmanned Hamas observation post in the northern Gaza Strip from which explosive and incendiary balloons had been dispatched earlier. There were no reports of Palestinian casualties.

Despite the strike and warning shots fired by the IDF earlier after am incendiary balloon landed near an Israeli border community, the IDF continued its containment policy and avoided attacking balloon or kite operators.

Eid al-Fitr prayer near Israel border (Photo: Reuters)

This was likely the calmest Friday since Gazans’ launched their weekend fence protests in late March. Several dozen Palestinians staged protests along the border throughout the day without any unusual events or casualties on either side of the border.

Palestinians launched several dozen incendiary kites and balloons towards the Gaza vicinity, causing 11 fires, which were all put out

Israel’s southern residents and IDF soldiers expected a renewal of violence on Friday afternoon on the Gaza border, with threats emanating from the Hamas-ruled enclave to send 5,000 incendiary kites and balloons into Israel.

Motorcycle hit by IDF warning shots

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