In two unrelated incidents on Wednesday, the Israeli military confronted threats posed by Palestinians preparing to launch incendiary terror attacks on Israel.
By: World Israel News Staff
Palestinian media on Wednesday announced that an Israeli drone fired in the vicinity of several Palestinians directing incendiary balloons toward southern Israel from the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, reported Times of Israel.
The IDF later confirmed that Israeli aircraft had targeted a cell launching arson balloons in the Gaza Strip.
Balloons and kites fitted with incendiary devices and improvised explosives have become a popular weapon among Palestinian terrorists seeking to launch attacks on Israel from within the coastal enclave’s borders. To date, Palestinians have caused millions of dollars of damage in Israel using this tactic, starting fires that have burned to the ground thousands of acres of Israeli farmland and nature preserves.
In a separate incident on Wednesday, IDF soldiers shot a Palestinian male trying to breach the security barrier. The suspect was caught with flammable liquid and wire-cutters when he was detained.
The skirmishes Wednesday arrive on the heels of Israel’s announcement that it is closing the Kerem Shalom border crossing, through which most goods enter the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for the daily arson attacks committed by Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled territory.
While the arson attacks and violent rioting along the border have been portrayed as spontaneous civilian unrest, Israeli security forces have produced ample evidence that both tactics are orchestrated and overseen by the Hamas terror group.