Israeli gunfire killed a Palestinian man Saturday on the West Bank and later Israeli fighter jets attacked military targets in Gaza, the army and Palestinian sources said, in the latest of many flare-ups in violence since Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire in May.
The Israeli army said fighter jets had "struck a weapon manufacturing site and a rocket launcher belonging to the Hamas terror organization" in Gaza.
According to security sources and witnesses, the facilities hit were west of Gaza City and in the northern strip, with no immediate reports of casualties.
"The strikes were made in response to the arson balloons fired towards Israeli territory," said a statement from the Israeli army.
Incendiary balloons from Gaza caused fires in southern Israel's Eshkol region on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, according to the fire service.
Israel retaliated early Friday with air strikes, which the army said struck "a weapons manufacturing site" belonging to Gaza's Hamas Islamist rulers.
On the West Bank, Mohammad Fareed Hasan, who was in his 20s, was killed in his village of Qusra near the city of Nablus by Israeli gunfire, while two others were wounded, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The Israeli army said it was responding to "a violent confrontation between tens of Palestinian and Israeli settlers.” It said that both sides were throwing rocks at each other. The army declined to comment on the reported fatality.
Eleven days of deadly fighting between Israel and Hamas, as well as other Palestinian armed groups based in the Gaza Strip, ended May 21 with a cease-fire.
There was no immediate indication as to which Gaza-based group was responsible for the latest balloon launch.
The May conflict killed 260 Palestinians including some fighters, according to Gaza authorities.
In Israel, 13 people were killed, including a soldier, by projectiles fired from Gaza, the police and army said.
