At the afternoon of January 6, unknown individuals flew a bunch of balloons attached to a model plane from the Gaza Strip to Israel territory around it. The model plane was reportedly labeled with a logo from the Gaza engineering college.
Toy drone with countless balloons launched from the #GazaStrip was found by a resident of a southern #Israel community less than an hour ago. pic.twitter.com/OpnoHJwIcz
— Anna Ahronheim (@AAhronheim) January 6, 2019
The model plane provoked a strong response from the Israeli military, which revealed that an improvised explosive device (IED) was hidden inside of it. The military held the Palestinian Hamas Movement responsible for the attack attempt and announced that its warplanes carried out two airstrikes on positions of the group in Gaza.
“Hamas will bear the consequences of its actions,” the Israeli military said on Twitter.
The Palestinian Shehab Agency confirmed that Israeli warplanes targeted two observation posts of Hamas in the areas of Khuza’a and Malka. The airstrikes didn’t result in any casualties.
Last October, the Gaza Strip witnessed a dangerous confrontation between Hamas and the Israeli military, during which each side carried out dozens of attacks against the other. The new incident will not likely develop into a similar confrontation as no one was hurt on both sides.
