Israel launches new airstrikes in Gaza for first time since May ceasefire

The Israeli military said it was "ready for all scenarios, including renewed fighting".

An Israeli military aircraft attacked Hamas compounds in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday for the first time since a ceasefire was brokered by Egypt at the end of May.

The military claimed the attack was in response to the launching of incendiary balloons from the territory that caused fires in fields in southern Israel.

According to Reuters, the Israeli fire brigade said the incendiary balloons caused some 20 blazes in open fields in communities near the frontier.

In a statement, the Israeli military said that it was “ready for all scenarios, including renewed fighting" in the face of what the Israeli militia called "terrorist attacks" from Hamas.

The attacks come following an Israeli nationalist march in East Jerusalem and as a Hamas radio station claimed on Wednesday that an Israeli aircraft attacked a Palestinian training camp in the Gaza Strip.

This is the first attack from Israel since they agreed to a ceasefire with Hamas across the Gaza Strip border on 19 May.

The ceasefire brought a halt to what was the fiercest fighting in the region in decades, fighting which went on for 11 days.

Israel's security cabinet said at the time that it had voted unanimously in favour of a "mutual and unconditional" Gaza truce proposed by a mediator, Egypt.

The fighting was triggered by violence in Jerusalem and Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes across the blockaded territory, which is home to more than two million Palestinians.

Israel’s new Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, who assumed office on Sunday to mark the end of Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year reign, said in the past that the Israeli government should not tolerate incendiary balloons.

The Prime Minister said that she believes that Israel must retaliate as if Hamas had fired rockets into Israel.