Israel's army launched new air strikes Sunday against Hamas positions in Gaza and closed the fishing zone around the Palestinian enclave.
The measures came after a week of heightened tensions, including clashes on Saturday evening along the Gaza-Israeli border, the army said.Long simmering Palestinian anger has flared further since Israel and the UAE on Thursday agreed to normalise relations, a move Palestinians saw as a betrayal of their cause by the Gulf country.
Over the past week Israeli forces have carried out repeated night-time strikes on targets linked to Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
The army says they were carried out in response to makeshift firebombs attached to balloons and kites which have been sent into southern Israel.
Following rocket and incendiary balloon attacks earlier this week, Israel on Wednesday slashed Gaza's permitted coastal fishing zone from 15 nautical miles to eight, a punitive move often used by the Jewish state in response to Gaza unrest.
Following Saturday's clashes and rocket-fire, Israel's military decided "to entirely shut down the fishing zone of the Gaza Strip, immediately and until further notice, starting this morning (Sunday)," a military statement said.
Israel has also closed its Kerem Shalom goods crossing with the Gaza Strip.
Despite a truce last year backed by the UN, Egypt and Qatar, the two sides clash sporadically with rockets, mortar fire or incendiary balloons.
The Gaza Strip has a population of two million, more than half of whom live in poverty, according to the World Bank.
