TLTP
\nGAZA
\nIsraeli warplanes bombed the Gaza Strip for the eighth consecutive night after alleging that Palestinians had fired a rocket into southern Israel.
\nThe latest attacks came as Israel warned Hamas – the group that governs the Strip – it was risking \u201cwar\u201d by failing to stop incendiary balloons being launched across the border.
\nHamas security sources said Israeli warplanes and drones struck several facilities that belong to the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the movement.
\nThe Israeli army air raids and artillery attacks caused severe damage to security posts and wounded several people. No deaths were reported.
\nIn a statement released shortly before midnight (21:00 GMT), the Israeli military said \u201cfighter jets and [other] aircraft struck additional Hamas military targets in the Gaza Strip\u201d.
\n\u201cEarlier tonight, a rocket was fired and during the day, explosive and arson balloons were launched from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory,\u201d it said. \u201cDuring the strike, a military compound belonging to one of the special arrays of the Hamas terror organisation was struck.\u201d
\nEgyptian security officials shuttled between the two sides in a bid to end the flare-up, which has seen more than a week of rocket and fire balloon attacks from Gaza and nightly Israeli reprisals.
\nIsraeli President Reuven Rivlin issued a warning to Hamas during a visit to firefighters in the area who said they were called out to 40 blazes caused by Palestinian incendiary balloons on Tuesday.
\n\u201cTerrorism using incendiary kites and balloons is terrorism just like any other,\u201d Rivlin told them, according to a statement from his office.
\n\u201cHamas should know that this is not a game. The time will come when they have to decide … If they want war, they will get war,\u201d said Rivlin, whose post is largely ceremonial.
\nIsrael and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.
\nA Hamas source told a foreign news agency that talks were held with an Egyptian delegation in Gaza on Monday before it left the territory for meetings with the Israelis and the occupied West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
\nThe Egyptian delegation was expected to return to Gaza after those talks were concluded, the source added.
\nIsrael banned fuel imports into Gaza on August 12 as part of punitive measures over the launch of incendiary balloons from the Strip, banned fishing off Gaza\u2019s coast, and closed the Karam Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) goods crossing – cutting off deliveries of fuel to the territory\u2019s sole power plant.
\nPower had been in short supply even before the shutdown, with consumers having access to electricity for only eight hours a day. That will now be just four hours a day using power supplied from the Israeli grid.
\nThe International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned on Wednesday that halting Gaza\u2019s only power plant would create problems in the health sector.
\nThe ICRC said on Facebook the reduction of the daily electricity supply from eight hours to three or four hours increased the burden on hospitals, which already operate precariously in Gaza.
\nUnderlining that the power cut will make it difficult for people to access water, it said environmental problems could also arise. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TLTP GAZA Israeli warplanes bombed the Gaza Strip for the eighth consecutive night after alleging that Palestinians had fired a rocket into southern Israel. The latest attacks came as Israel warned Hamas – the group that governs the Strip – it was risking \u201cwar\u201d by failing to stop incendiary balloons being launched across the border. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n