Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Residents of Israel’s south mull initiating formal UN complaint against Hamas

After suffering 100 fires in a single week due to a daily onslaught of arson devices, residents of the Gaza border region are considering taking their case to the United Nations.

Palestinians prepare balloons that will be attached to flammable material to be launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip, on June 25, 2019. Photo by Hassan Jedi/Flash90.
Palestinians prepare balloons that will be attached to flammable material to be launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip, on June 25, 2019. Photo by Hassan Jedi/Flash90.

Representatives of Israeli regional councils near the Gaza border are looking into the legal requirements for issuing an independent appeal to the United Nations against Hamas after suffering some 100 fires in the past week sparked by incendiary balloons launched from the Gaza Strip.

According to a report by Israel’s Channel 12, residents of the region are outraged by the barrage of airborne incendiary devices, and discouraged by the lack of reaction and support on the part of the Israeli government.

The residents asserted that no government officials have come to show support in the area or meet with regional council heads to provide aid or solutions.

Israel has recently eased restrictions on Gaza, despite the cessation of incendiary balloon launches being a condition of the ceasefire sealed between Israel and Hamas in May.

In another truce renewal on Sunday, Israel extended the Gaza fishing zone to 15 nautical miles, agreed to return 60 confiscated boats and will resume fuel deliveries to the coastal enclave, with a reported shipment of four trucks bringing more than 150,000 liters of fuel into Gaza.

Israel had stopped the fuel shipments on Tuesday due to the arson attacks.

Zeina Jallad, who was picked over the vetting committee’s top choice, blames the United States and Europe for boycotting Hamas and claims falsely that the terror group recognizes Israel.
The government’s step is the most dramatic internal measure it has taken against the terror group.
If Ismael Jimenez were suspended, it would be “an encouraging sign of the much-needed systemic change for the district,” Mika Hackner, of the North American Values Institute, told JNS.
Prayer notes calling for peace have been sent from Arab countries to the holy site in Jerusalem, and some even from Iran.
Iraq’s Interior Ministry stated that it is using “precise intelligence information” to locate Shelly Kittleson, a U.S. freelance journalist who reports extensively from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
The Israeli prime minister said strikes on steel production facilities weaken the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as the operation against Iran progresses “beyond the halfway point.”