Twenty fires erupted in Israeli communities near the Gaza border Tuesday as a result of Palestinian kite terrorism, destroying wooded areas and nature reserves.
Authorities say that over 8,000 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.
On Tuesday, the Israel Farmers Union hosted a national conference on agricultural terrorism and cutbacks to subsidized water supply for farmers. Chairman of the Israel Farmers Federation and Secretary General of the Moshavim Movement Meir Tzur said in his opening speech, "We need to kill anyone who attacks us. Terrorism must be crushed with an iron fist."
In the past three months since the Gaza border riots began, firefighters and teams from the Jewish National Fund have scrambled to battle hundreds of fires. Danny Ben David, a JNF ranger who has been running from one blaze to another, said Tuesday, "Over 5,000 dunams [1,200 acres] of forest and brush have been burned up. Every day, five or six JNF fire trucks are out there with teams on foot. There is enormous damage to forested areas around [Kibbutz] Be'eri and Kissufim."
Deputy shift manager for the Ashkelon branch of the Fire and Rescue Services Dudu Harel, whose firefighters have been working around the clock to protect the residents in the Gaza-vicinity communities, said, "We jump from one location to another. We have a lot of incidents going on at the same time, in a difficult area."
Residents of border-adjacent communities who are forced to deal with the stench and sight of scorched earth demanded Tuesday that the government put an immediate stop to the newest form of terrorism employed against them.
Itay Levi, who lives on Moshav Netiv Haasara, told Israel Hayom that action must be taken against the Gazans who fly incendiary kites and other projectiles designed to start fires toward Israel.
"There's no question that this is terrorism and we need to find a solution. We as a community are unwilling to live with 'drizzles' – whether it's sporadic rocket fire or flaming balloons and kites. There is no reason why the government is being passive like this. The IDF should be responding strongly to the gangs that are making the [incendiary] kites and balloons. Anyone who flies these kites should meet the same fate as someone who fires a rocket."
Resident Adi Rozen explained their feeling of frustration: "This isn't a situation I've ever had to deal with. Kites were always considered something fun, joyful and colorful. I'm proud and happy to live here but still, this is a situation we're not willing to accept. We want the government to find an appropriate solution to the new security situation, which is absurd. It's terrorism in every sense of the word," Rozen said.
Ofer Lieberman of Kibbutz Nir Am is also helping put out the fires.
"We are working in full cooperation with the fire service. It's a lot easier, practically speaking, to put out fires in fields using a disc harrow and a tractor than a fire truck, so that's what we're doing," Lieberman said, adding that despite promises, the terrorism continues. "When a government minister says, 'We won't let this go on,' what does he mean? It's already going on."
