Occupied Jerusalem: The Israeli occupation regime tightened its blockade of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, partly over kites allegedly carrying firebombs to set alight Israeli farmland, as concerns mounted over whether the rudimentary devices could spark another Israeli war.
Days after the regime’s heaviest attacks on Gaza since a 2014 conflict, Israel said it was blocking until Sunday fuel deliveries to Gaza through its only goods crossing with the enclave.
The fishing zone enforced by the Israeli regime off the Gaza Strip was also reduced from six nautical miles to three.
The goods crossing, known as Kerem Shalom, will remain open for food and medicine on a case-by-case basis.
It had already been closed to most deliveries since July 9.
The move followed months of tension that has raised the possibility of a fourth Israeli war on Gaza since 2008.
Beyond the kites and last weekend’s exchange of fire, mass protests and clashes along the Gaza border since March 30 have seen dozens of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli occupation soldiers.
Hamas was further backed into a corner by the Israeli closure, with humanitarian conditions in the enclave of two million people already deteriorating.
The Israeli regime has in recent days pledged a firmer response to the hundreds of arson kites and balloons that Palestinians have flown over the border fence since April.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the occupation regime’s military to stop the firebombs — raising the question of how that can be achieved.
The issue reportedly led to a debate between the Israeli regime military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot and far-right Education Minister Naftali Bennett during a security cabinet meeting on Sunday.
Israeli media reports cited Bennett, a Netanyahu rival with ambitions to be prime minister, urging the occupation army to open fire on anyone launching the kites.
Hamas has slammed Israel’s closure of the goods crossing as a “crime against humanity” and accused Israel of exaggerating the threat from arson kites.
Palestinians in Gaza see the devices as legitimate resistance against Israel’s more than decade-long blockade.
“The Israeli occupation would be playing with fire if its warplanes targeted kite flyers,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.
The Israeli regime’s fire service says around 750 fires have burnt some 2,600 hectares (6,400 acres), estimating the damage at millions of shekels (hundreds of thousands of dollars or euros).
The firebombs have mostly been transported by kites and balloons, but Israel’s nature authority said a falcon was found on Monday with flammable material tied to its legs.
Israel’s military signalled how it may try to stop the firebombs on Monday when an aircraft struck two Hamas posts it said were near people launching them.
Jamal Al Fadi, a political science professor in Gaza, agreed that Hamas could stop the firebombs, but said it wants to use them to pressure Israel to ease its blockade.
The Islamist movement is however limited in how it can respond militarily, he said.
“It does not have an interest in a (military) confrontation because the people don’t want a war,” Al Fadi said.
On Saturday, Israel carried out air strikes partially in response to the fires, but also over the border protests and clashes.
Palestinians and rights groups say protesters are being shot by Israeli snipers while posing no real threat.
Israel hit dozens of sites on the Gaza Strip in Saturday’s strikes, killing two Palestinian teenagers.