GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, Sept 7, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - Israel

launched airstrikes against Gaza on Monday night, the army said, retaliating
after incendiary balloons launched from the blockaded Palestinian enclave had
started fires.

   Blaming Hamas for the balloons, the Israeli army said it had targeted
locations belonging to the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.

   "Overnight, IDF fighter jets struck a Hamas rocket manufacturing workshop,
as well as a Hamas military compound in Khan Yunis," the Israeli army said in
a statement.

   "The strikes were in response to Hamas launching incendiary balloons into
Israeli territory," the statement added.

   Witnesses said that the army had also fired artillery at the north of
Gaza.

   According to medical sources in the Palestinian enclave, no one was killed
. Earlier in the day, Israeli firefighters had said that incendiary balloons
had caused three bushfires at sites close to the Gaza Strip.

   Launching the makeshift devices is a common tactic of militants in Gaza,
which Israel has blockaded for nearly 15 years.

   Israel frequently responds with airstrikes.

   Monday's strikes come after six Palestinians broke out of an Israeli
prison earlier in the day through a tunnel, triggering a massive manhunt.

   Hamas and Israel fought a devastating 11-day conflict in May, the worst
between the two sides in years.

   Though it ended with an Egypt-brokered ceasefire and a pledge for Qatari
aid to ease poverty in the Palestinian enclave, incendiary balloons and
occasional border clashes have continued in the months since.