As violence raged in Jerusalem throughout the weekend, arson balloons released over the Gaza border fence toward southern Israel caused at least four fires in the western Negev on Saturday.
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The Southern District of Israel's Fire and Rescue Services reported that its personnel, along with the JNF, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and local volunteers, had been battling fires at a few locations in the Eshkol Regional Council and gotten the flames under control.
"Most of the fires were small and not dangerous. A wheat field in the Eshkol Regional Council was damaged," the Fire and Rescue Services reported.
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Saturday marked the third day straight that arson balloons flown over the border by terrorist factions in Gaza had caused fires in the western Negev.
On Friday afternoon, balloons caused eight separate fires, and on Friday evening another fire was reported near Kibbutz Sa'ad. Seven fires caused by arson balloons from Gaza were reported on Thursday.
Security officials in the western Negev say the balloon attacks are linked to the ongoing tension in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, and call the attacks an attempt to "light up the area."
Meanwhile, explosives-laden balloons weren't the only things that terrorist operatives in Gaza were sending toward Israel. The IDF confirmed that a rocket was fired at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip overnight between Saturday and Sunday, triggering an alert in open areas. No injuries or damage were reported. Local residents said they heard the rocket explode when it landed.
In response to the attack, IDF aircraft carried out strikes against Hamas targets in southern Gaza.
Earlier Saturday, Palestinians in Gaza rioted near the border fence, throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at the border and at Israeli security troops, who used crowd deployment tactics. A few Palestinians were wounded.
Hamas said that it would activate its "nighttime disruption units" – operatives who deliberately set off alerts, keeping residents of western Negev communities running to shelters during the night – as a response to the wave of violence in Jerusalem.
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