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Photo:
Gaza shelling. File? Published by IMEMC News

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, June 2021. Credit: MAHMUD HAMS - AFP Published by Haaretz

Palestinian in Gaza protest the Israeli ultranationalist Flag March in Jerusalem's Old City, June 2021. Credit: MAHMUD HAMS - AFP Published by Haaretz
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by IMEMC News
June 16, 2021

Israeli warplanes fired missiles into the southern besieged Gaza Strip, early on Wednesday morning, breaking the ceasefire which brought the most recent eruption of violence to an end.

Quds News Network reported that the occupation army attacked Gaza with several airstrikes, targeting alleged resistance sites located in Khan Younis. No casualties were reported.

At the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem, on Tuesday, Israeli forces detained and wounded several Palestinians, while Israeli settlers held the “Flag-March”, under the protection of 2500 Israeli police.

The provocative march went ahead, on Tuesday, after being cancelled last week due to concerns about the fragile ceasefire.

Prior to the settler march, Israeli forces blocked the Palestinian muslims wishing to pray at the mosque, while allowing the illegal Israeli colonists to march at the flashpoint holy site.

Israeli forces injured more than thirty Palestinians and detained eight, prior to the settler march, assaulting them with batons and rifle butts, the Palestinian WAFA News Agency reported.

The army opened fire with live and rubber-coated steel rounds, and directly targeted an ambulance. Four of the injured were transferred to hospital for the necessary treatment.
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Four Fires Started by Gaza Balloons in Southern Israel, Authorities Say

Blazes follow overnight airstrikes in Gaza in response to fires started by balloons launched Tuesday during the right-wing Flag March in Jerusalem

Almog Ben Zikri for Haaretz
Jun. 16, 2021 6:47 PM

Four fires were started in southern Israel by incendiary balloons launched from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, rescue services said.

The airstrikes targeted Hamas military positions that housed operatives in Khan Yunis and Gaza City, the IDF said.

The army added that it's "ready for all scenarios, including renewed fighting in the face of continued terrorist acts emanating from Gaza."

Twenty fires broke out in Israel close to the Gaza border due to explosive-laden balloons launched from the Strip on Tuesday in response to the Jerusalem Flag March.

The Flag March is an annual event in which right-wing Jewish groups parade through the Old City carrying Israeli flags to celebrate the reunification of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Islamic Jihad had called on Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank to be present along the route of the Flag March and “protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” while Hamas warned that "Israeli aggression against Al-Aqsa" would be met with violence.

Tuesday's exchange of fire marks the first escalation in violence since a cease-fire ended 11 days of conflict between Israel and Hamas last month, in which 13 people in Israel were killed by rockets and at least 248 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza.

*Seventeen Palestinian protesters arrested as thousands attend Jerusalem right-wing march
*Israeli ambassador tells AP: Hamas used Gaza office to develop anti-Iron Dome tech
*Support for Hamas has dramatically risen after Israel-Gaza fighting, poll finds
*It also marks the first time Naftali Bennett is confronted with the ongoing tensions in Gaza after being sworn in as Israel's Prime Minister.

Both Israel and Hamas have said the Egyptian brokered cease-fire was fragile.

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