12 fires rage in the Negev from terror kites, balloons
By TAMARA ZIEVEUpdated: JULY 2, 2018 02:06Fires rage in southern Israel as a result of incendiary kites and balloons launched from the Gaza Strip(photo credit: KKL-JNF)
At least 12 fires raged in the Israeli south on Sunday as a result of incendiary kites launched from Gaza, according to KKL-JNF. Six of the fires were sparked in the Beeri Forest, five in the Kisufim Forest and one next to the Simhoni Forest, some 400 meters away from Kfar Aza, as a result of an incendiary balloon.In total, there have been over 450 fires on land managed by KKL-JNF, with over 7,500 dunam of land affected. Most of the damage done lately has been from incendiary balloons rather than from kites, according to KKLJNF Western Negev regional director Daniel Ben-David.In addition, the police reported several incidents of incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip landing in populated and open areas on Sunday. Police bomb disposal experts arrived at the scene and neutralized the threats.Police units called upon the public to notify and make contact via the 100 emergency number if they see any suspicious objects.The Lachish district police spokesman Shimon Cohen told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that police did not have data on how many incendiary kites and balloons had been handled by police since the start of the phenomenon in March.“We treat them as suspicious objects in every respect. There have been dozens of balloons and kites, almost all of them incendiary. There were a few cases of explosives,” Cohen added.On Saturday, 10 fires broke out on Israeli land close to the Gaza border, including in Kisufim, Beeri and Ein HaShlosha.
