Israel launches 3 airstrikes on Gaza

Israeli army drones have carried out three successive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, in response to arson kites and balloons fired from the enclave.

The airstrikes on Sunday injured four persons, according to medical sources, Xinhua news agency reported.

An Israeli drone fired a missile at a training facility that belongs to the Islamic Hamas movement's armed wing al-Qassam Brigades in central Gaza, with no injuries reported.

Another drone fired a rocket on a motorbike in the refugee camp of al-Bureij close to the border between eastern Gaza and Israel, also with no injuries.

The third airstrike on eastern Gaza City injured four. It targeted a vehicle which carried young Palestinians flying flaming kites and balloons into Israel.

The Israeli army is not immediately available for comment on the airstrikes.

Flying and releasing kites and balloons is part of the ongoing Palestinian "Great March of Return" mass rally against Israel's 11-year crippling blockade, which started on March 30.

Israeli media reported last Thursday that flaming kites and balloons caused four huge fires in agricultural fields in Israel.

Ashraf al-Qedra, the health ministry spokesman in Gaza, earlier told reporters that Israeli forces have killed at least 132 Palestinians, and injured 14,000 others since March 30.

Around half of the injured were shot by live ammunition, and many of them are still in critical condition, he added.

--IANS

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