Israeli warplanes launch airstrikes in Gaza

No casualties were reported
Israeli warplanes launch airstrikes in Gaza

Israeli warplanes struck two positions of Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to the Israeli military. 

A military statement said the two positions were adjacent to areas where incendiary kites and balloons were fired into Israeli territory. 

Local residents said the airstrikes targeted two observation towers in Jabaliya town in the northern Gaza Strip. 

Residents said another tower in the town of Beit Hanoun and a farmland in the northern Gaza Strip were also struck. 

No casualties were reported. 

The airstrikes came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that any cease-fire deal with Hamas would not apply to the use of incendiary kites and balloons used by Palestinian activists to attack Israeli territory. 

On Saturday, Israel and Hamas -- the latter of which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007 -- reportedly agreed to the terms of an Egyptian cease-fire proposal to ease tension in the Palestinian territory. 

In recent weeks, Palestinian activists have been flying flaming kites and balloons over Israeli territory as part of ongoing anti-occupation protests along Gaza border. 

Since March, more than 130 people have been martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli army fire during the protests against the decades-long Israeli occupation and 11-year blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly 2 million inhabitants of basic commodities.