Firefighters worked throughout Thursday to extinguish 13 blazes caused by incendiary balloons landing in Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the Israeli Fire and Rescue Authority said.
Since March 30, southern Israel has experienced hundreds of fires as a result of incendiary kites and balloons flown over the border by Palestinians in Gaza. Over 7,000 acres of land have been burned, causing millions of shekels in damages, according to Israeli officials.
Recently balloons have been found farther and farther from the Gaza Strip, landing as far away as the southern city of Beersheba.
Israel has struggled to counter the arson assault, and has in some cases fired at Palestinians preparing to launch incendiaries, killing or injuring those involved.
On Wednesday Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman froze all fuel and gas shipments into Gaza through the main goods crossing into the Palestinian enclave, citing continued arson attacks as his reason. Officials said the closure of the Kerem Shalom Crossing would continue until further notice.
Israel closed the crossing on July 9 in response to ongoing violence from Gaza and has blamed Hamas, an Islamist terror group that seeks the destruction of Israel.
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