Smoke and flames billow after an Israeli airstrike against the northern Gaza Strip, June 17, 2021. (Photo by Reuters)

Gaza City, June 18 (RHC)-- The Israeli regime attacked the Gaza Strip for a second time in as many days in outright violation of a fragile ceasefire that it had desperately demanded during its latest war on the Palestinian enclave.

On Thursday night, the regime’s warplanes hit at least five locations across the coastal territory, alleging them to be targets belonging to the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas, Palestinian media outlets said.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, alleged, “The attack was carried out in response to the continued launching of incendiary balloons at” the occupied territories.   The regime regularly claims being targeted by balloons mounted with incendiary devices from the direction of Gaza.  Its television channels also routinely broadcast footage of blazes billowing out across the occupied lands that border Gaza.

In an apparent bid at an uncalled-for hype, the military said rocket sirens had also been set off in the “Kfar Aza community” near Gaza’s border.

Israeli Ynet news site, however, acknowledged that there were no immediate reports of rockets or missiles landing near the community.  It was possible the alarm had been triggered by machinegun fire from the strip aimed at Israeli aircraft, it added.

The military also said the regime’s chief of staff had “held a situational assessment in which he ordered a higher level of preparedness and for the IDF (the Israeli military) to make preparations for a variety of scenarios including a resumption of fighting.”