Israel tightened its blockade of the Gaza Strip today partly over kites carrying firebombs to burn Israeli farmland as concerns mounted over whether the rudimentary devices could spark another war.
Days after the heaviest exchange of fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza since a 2014 conflict, Israel said it was blocking until Sunday fuel and gas deliveries through its only goods crossing with the enclave.
The fishing zone enforced by Israel off the Gaza Strip was also reduced from six nautical miles to three.
The goods crossing, known as Kerem Shalom, will remain open for food and medicine on a case-by-case basis.
It had already been closed to most deliveries since July 9, partly in response to the firebombs.
The move followed months of tension that has raised the possibility of a fourth war between Israel and Gaza militants since 2008.
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Beyond the kites and last weekend's exchange of fire, mass protests and clashes along the Gaza border since March 30 have seen dozens of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli soldiers.
Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, was further backed into a corner by the closure, with humanitarian conditions in the enclave of two million people already badly deteriorating.
Gaza's only other border crossing is with Egypt and that was also closed today, though a source at the crossing said it was only for "technical" reasons.
That prompted speculation that Egypt, which has mediated between Israel and Hamas, had closed it to add to pressure on the Islamists to clamp down on the arson kites.
Egyptian state television denied the crossing was closed.
Known as Rafah, the crossing has been largely closed in recent years, though Egypt had kept it mostly open since mid-May.
Israel has pledged a firmer response to the hundreds of arson kites and balloons that Palestinians have flown over the border fence since April.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under political pressure over the issue, has ordered the military to stop them.
The issue reportedly led to a debate between Israel's military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot and far-right Education Minister Naftali Bennett during a security cabinet meeting on Sunday.
Israeli media reports cited Bennett, a Netanyahu rival with ambitions to be prime minister, urging the military to open fire on anyone launching the kites.
Eisenkot was quoted as telling him there was a risk of firing at children, and that even in the case of adults such an approach ran against his "operational and moral position".
Netanyahu said while visiting the military's Gaza division headquarters today that "we are in a campaign that entails an exchange of blows and I can tell you that the (army) is ready for any scenario."