Hamas to cease balloon bomb launches in bid to appease Egypt: report

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February 11, 2020, 06:18 AM – latest revision February 11, 2020, 06:21 AM

 2 min read

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Palestinian youth prepare molotov cocktails attached to balloons, to send to Israeli land east of Bureij refugee camp, in the Gaza Strip, on May 31, 2019.

Palestinian youth prepare molotov cocktails attached to balloons, to send to Israeli land east of Bureij refugee camp, in the Gaza Strip, on May 31, 2019.

Palestinian outlet says despite new bombs landing in Israel Tuesday morning, launches to stop in coming hours

The Hamas group in the Gaza Strip decided to halt the launches of incendiary balloons into Israel, Palestinian Quds newspaper reported Tuesday.

Citing sources within the group, the newspaper said that the decision was made on Monday and had been relayed to the launch brigades working in the field.

While fresh batches of balloons with explosives were spotted in Israel Tuesday morning, the newspaper says these are the last ones to be sent, with the launches expected to stop within the coming hours.

The move is reportedly a result of talks with an Egyptian delegation that arrived in the enclave on Monday and is intended to demonstrate to Cairo that its call for defusing the frictions with Israel did not fall on deaf ears.

Egypt, in its turn, reportedly pledged to get Israel to ease the restrictions slapped on Gaza.

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In the weeks after the release of US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, the Gaza groups stepped up their balloon bomb attacks, with air-delivered IEDs repeatedly found across Israel’s south.

In some cases, the launches yielded a forceful response from the IDF, which launched strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza; senior Israeli officials also threatened a harsher response should the attacks not cease.

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