17 June 2018•Update: 17 June 2018
By Hani al-Shaer
GAZA CITY, Palestine
An Israeli warplane struck a car in Gaza City early Sunday, according to Israeli officials and eyewitnesses.
Israeli Army spokesman Avichay Adraee said the vehicle -- which was empty at the time of the attack -- belonged to a Palestinian activist responsible for launching incendiary kites and balloons into Israeli territory.
“The raid comes as a response to the continuation of the launching of burning kites and balloons [by Palestinian activists] toward Israeli land,” Adraee said.
Eyewitnesses at the scene told Anadolu Agency that the car had been struck by a rocket while it was parked outside a home in Gaza’s Shujaiyya neighborhood.
No deaths or injuries were reported in connection with the attack.
The Palestinian authorities have yet to comment on the incident.
Palestinian activists have been flying incendiary kites and balloons toward Israeli territory as part of ongoing demonstrations near the Israel-Gaza security fence that began on Mar. 30.
Since the protests began, at least 128 Palestinian demonstrators have been martyred -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli army gunfire.
Protesters demand the “right of return” to their homes in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.
They also demand an end to Israel’s decade-long blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of basic commodities.
