Israel strikes Gaza after fire balloons, border clashes

The Israeli air force attacked two Hamas sites in Gaza yesterday, the army said, after Gazans clashed with forces on the border and launched incendiary balloons into southern Israel. The latest escalation came as Israel and Egypt continued to relax restrictions on commerce and travel imposed on the Gaza Strip, largely cut off by both countries since the Islamist movement Hamas seized the Palestinian enclave in 2007. There were no reports from the Gaza Strip of any casualties caused by the Israeli strikes. Hamas and Israel then fought a devastating 11-day conflict in May, the worst between the two sides in years, which ended with an informal truce.