The Palestinian kite terrorism campaign continued to rage Thursday, as 19 fires erupted in Israeli communities near the Israel-Gaza Strip border after airborne incendiary devices crashed there.
Authorities say that some 7,500 acres of forest and agricultural land on the Israeli side of the border have been reduced to ash since the Palestinians launched the "kite campaign" in late April, causing tens of millions of shekels in damage and affecting every community in the area.
Hamas, the terrorist group that controls the coastal enclave, threatened on Thursday to send thousands of incendiary kites and balloons over the border on Friday.
Hamas officials took to social media and urged Gazans to amass at the border. This week's riot will mark Eid al-Fitr, which ends the holy month of Ramadan.
The group urged protesters to clash with Israeli security forces and said its "Gaza kite unit" will send 5,000 incendiary kites flying over the border.
"We will break the siege on Gaza even if we have to send hundreds of thousands of kites over the border. We have plenty of surprises in store for the Zionist enemy," a Hamas spokesman said, referring to the blockade Israel placed on the coastal enclave after Hamas ousted the rival Fatah party from Gaza in a military coup in 2007.
Some 2,000 gathered near the border on Friday for the traditional morning Eid al-Fitr prayer. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh joined them, saying, the weekly protests have "revived the Palestinian issue" by refocusing world attention.
The military stuck two terrorist cells preparing incendiary kites Thursday, saying that if the kite terrorism campaign continues, it will launch surgical strikes to eliminate these terrorist cells – a policy currently employed against cells that fire rockets at Israel.
The IDF has increased the deployment of drones near the border to counter the incendiary kite threat.
Meanwhile, in a first, the IDF has deployed a tactical drone in Judea and Samaria, designed to drop riot-dispersal materials on rioters.
The drone, which can cover a distance of some 500 meters (1,600 feet) within minutes, flies at an altitude of 100 meters (330 feet), at which it is unlikely to be hit by stone-throwing rioters.
