JERUSALEM, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Israel's military said on Sunday that its aircraft have struck a vehicle belonging to "a leader" of a group who sent burning kites from Gaza into Israel.
No injuries were immediately reported in the early morning strike.
The attack was perceived as an escalation in the Israeli reaction to arson and explosive kites and balloons that have burnt thousands of dunams of farmlands in southern Israel.
"In recent days, the military has warned numerous times against these launches," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. "These are terrorist acts that endanger Israeli residents living in southern Israel."
The statement said that the military will "continue to act with increasing intensity against these acts of terror, as long as required and with a variety of tools."
The statement also warned that Israel holds Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist movement that runs Gaza, accountable for any hostility coming from Gaza, and "it will bear the consequences."
People in the Palestinian enclave have started flying the incendiary kites as part of a mass protest against the blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip.
Israeli soldiers stationed behind the fence between Israel and Gaza have fired live fire against mostly unarmed protesters. At least 128 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the protest began on March 30.
