Hundreds of firefighters and volunteers, assisted by ‎firefighting aircraft, battled the blazes, which ‎were fueled by the heavy heat and strong wind ‎conditions. Several roads in the area were ‎temporarily blocked as fires threatened them as ‎well. ‎

On Sunday, an Israeli aircraft struck the vehicle of one of the ‎ringleaders of the kite terrorism campaign, in the ‎Shujaiyya neighborhood in Gaza. ‎No one was wounded in the strike but it marked an escalation in Israel's response to kite terrorism.

One of the balloons launched over the border on Saturday ‎was found to be carrying explosives. Police sappers ‎neutralized the device safely. ‎

In response, the IDF struck a terrorist cell gearing ‎up to launch additional explosive kites over the ‎border, as well as a Hamas observation post in ‎northern Gaza. ‎

On Friday, the military fired warning shots at ‎terrorist cells trying to send incendiary kites and ‎balloons over the Israeli border. ‎

The Palestinians reported that two men were wounded ‎in an IDF strike on a kite cell in the al-Bureij ‎refugee camp in central Gaza.‎

‎"The IDF is determined to counter the Palestinians' ‎acts of terror," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement, adding that regardless of which terrorist organization instigates the attacks, "Hamas will be held accountable for ‎anything that transpires in the Gaza Strip."

Military officials warned last week that if ‎the Palestinian kite ‎terrorism continues, the ‎IDF will launch ‎surgical strikes to eliminate these ‎terrorist cells ‎‎– a policy currently used ‎against cells that ‎fire rockets at Israel. ‎

However, senior IDF officers expressed concern that ‎surgical strikes against kite terrorist cells could set off a rapid security escalation that could lead ‎to another round of fighting in Gaza.‎ ‎

The IDF is mostly employing drone technology to ‎combat kite terrorism, but local residents say the drones are ineffective in alleviating the damage caused by the ‎fires.

Authorities say that over 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. ‎

The Israel Nature ‎and Parks Authority ‎says the impact on ‎local flora and fauna has been devastating, as local habitats have lost over ‎‎3,500 acres to fires, ‎including one-third of the Karmiya Nature Reserve, a part of the Be'eri Forest and ‎all of the Nir Am Nature Reserve.‎

INPA official Uri Naveh said the environmental damage ‎caused to the area was nothing short of ‎catastrophic. ‎

‎"The western Negev area is the natural habitat for ‎rare species of plants and many species of reptiles, ‎which have sustained catastrophic damage that will take ‎decades to repair," Naveh said. ‎"Moreover, if the fires are a recurring event, the ‎habitat may change completely. Nature knows how to ‎deal with a large fire every 10 years or so, but if it ‎happens every year or in short intervals, without ‎the habitat having time to recover, it changes so dramatically that it becomes something else." ‎

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Palestinian rioters sent dozens of incendiary kites ‎over the border on Friday and Saturday, and hundreds ‎of firefighters battled the flames for hours each ‎day. ‎

Israel Fire and Rescue Services said that so far, ‎the Palestinians' "kite campaign," launched in late ‎April, has sparked 350 fires that have eradicated ‎nearly 7,000 acres of forest and agricultural ‎land on the Israeli side of the border, affecting ‎every community near the security fence. ‎

Firefighters from all districts have been deployed ‎to the Gaza vicinity to help local teams battle ‎the blazes.

The largest fire this weekend destroyed a ‎significant part of the Karmiya Nature Reserve, the ‎Israel Nature ‎and Parks Authority reported Saturday.‎
The INPA said around one-third of the reserve – 75 acres of ‎the 275-acre park – has been reduced to ash, causing ‎untold devastation.‎

Flames raged for hours, fueled by the dry weather ‎conditions. "At first, we couldn't use firefighting ‎aircraft – they would be flying close to the Gaza ‎border and the military forbade it," said INPA ‎inspector Kobi Sofer. ‎

He said rehabilitating the damage caused to the ‎area's flora and fauna would take years.‎

Dozens of greenhouses and fields in the communities ‎near the border sustained fire damage over the ‎weekend as well and local farmers said that at this ‎point, the damage amounted to tens of millions of ‎shekels.‎

Kibbutz Kissufim spokesman Benny Hasson told Israel ‎Hayom that "the government isn't protecting us. ‎We've come to the point where we have no control ‎over our daily routine – they [the Palestinians] ‎control it. ‎ The fires enveloping the kibbutz have caused ‎significant financial damage. The State of Israel ‎has not imposed enough sanctions on the other side ‎to make it stop."‎

Commenting on a suggestion made by the heads of some ‎of the Gaza-vicinity communities, to hire Gazan to ‎work in their fields so as to mitigate their dire ‎economic situation, Hasson ‎said, "How am I supposed ‎to trust people who burn my fields, vandalize their ‎side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, through which ‎vital goods are delivered, and open fire on the ‎Karni crossing, used by Palestinian patients to ‎travel to hospitals?" ‎

Ofer Lieberman, who oversees field crops at Kibbutz ‎Nir Am, said the residents and farmers "are helpless ‎against this phenomenon. We try to minimize the ‎damage caused by the fires, but it's just crazy. It's ‎not just farmland that's being destroyed is the ‎vegetation around us. I hope the state will ‎compensate us for both direct and indirect damages."‎

Danny Ben David, head of the Western Negev Region at ‎the Jewish National Fund, said, "We carry out daily ‎assessments of the damage and it's very frustrating ‎because we have no idea when this [kite campaign] ‎will end, or how. Each one [kite] causes hundreds of ‎thousands of shekels in damages and we deal with ‎dozens of them every day." ‎

The military said it was working on countermeasures ‎against the incendiary kites, with one official ‎saying that drone technology is tested daily against ‎them.‎

"We have the ability to tangle the kites' lines and ‎bring them down where they can't cause any damage," ‎Col. Nadav Livneh, head of the IDF's Testing and ‎Quality Assurance Unit, which is part of the GOC ‎Army Headquarters' Technology Division, told Channel ‎‎12. ‎

‎"When you think of the financial issue, it's not ‎just about the damage to the fields, it's about the ‎trauma caused to the residents of the border-‎adjacent communities. If there is anything we can do ‎to minimize this damage, we'll do it," he said.‎

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The incendiary kites caused blazes in several locations near Kibbutz Be'eri and Kibbutz Kissufim in southern Israel. A large contingent of firefighters was deployed to the area.

The IDF is exploring more intensive measures to combat the threat, Kan Public Broadcasting reported Thursday. Among the measures being considered is the deployment of multi-rotor drones to intercept the kites before they cross into Israel. The army is also weighing the option of shooting at those who launch the kites, according to the report.

Kibbutz Kissufim spokesman Benny Hasson told Israel Hayom that the incendiary kite phenomenon must be stopped.

"There was a huge fire next to the kibbutz, which erupted in two separate spots. The whole kibbutz was covered in smoke," said.

"The arson is disrupting the residents' daily lives, and the wave of fires caused by the incendiary kites is causing a great deal of damage to our fields. We thank the firefighters for the job they are doing day and night, and everyone else who is involved in making sure the fires don't spread into the communities themselves."

About 86 acres of grain fields have been burned in the fires, at a cost of nearly NIS 175,000 ($48,000). Over the past three weeks, dozens of fires have been sparked by the firebomb kites in wooded areas and on agricultural land near the border.

Gadi Yarkoni, head of the Eshkol Regional Council, where numerous fires have been sparked, said, "There is damage to wheat and barley fields ahead of harvest season, and to a natural grove in the area. Firefighters and farmers are working overtime to put the fires out before they inflict even heavier damage, and we expect compensation from the state.

"The kite terrorism won't break us; we will continue working the fields to the last inch. Our fields are our livelihood and the beating heart of the Eshkol Regional Council."

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Incendiary kites are the latest terrorist measure used by Palestinians rioting near the security fence to harass Israeli troops and the residents of the Israeli border-adjacent communities.

Dozens of fires have been sparked over the past three weeks in wooded areas and on agricultural land near the border as a result of kites fitted with crude incendiary devices.

The IDF, Israel Fire and Rescue Services, Jewish National Fund foresters and local farmers are making every effort to combat this phenomenon together, but hundreds of acres have already been lost to terrorist fires.

Three of these flying firebombs set a massive fire in the forest bordering Kibbutz Be'eri, 3 miles from Gaza. Wednesday's blaze was the largest fire since the terrorist "kite campaign" began.

Ten firefighting teams battled the flames that, fueled by high temperatures, dry weather conditions and strong winds, raged for more than three hours, the Israel Fire and Rescue Services' Southern District said.

Firefighters finally extinguished the blaze at around 8 p.m., but not before it reduced dozens of acres of woodland into ash.

Several smaller fires erupted in agricultural fields in several Israeli communities near the border, devouring acres of crops before farmers were able to extinguish them.

No injuries were reported in any of the fires.

Sdot Negev Regional Council head Tamir Idan warned that kite terrorism was becoming a trend and demanded that the military devise ways to counter the threat.

"This kind of terrorism is life-threatening," he said. "We are not taking it lightly. We understand that it's very problematic and that there's no way to eliminate it completely, but the IDF is trying all sorts of things and I hope they find a solution."

Idan, along with Shai Hajaj, head of the Merhavim Regional Council, leveled criticism at Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups that recently appealed to the High Court of Justice, asking to restrict the Israeli response rioting on the Gaza border.

At least 45 Palestinians have been killed and thousands have been wounded since the weekly protests near the security fence, orchestrated by the Hamas terrorist group, began on March 30.

The Palestinians have accused the Israeli military of using excessive force against "unarmed, peaceful protesters," but the IDF maintains that for the most part, it uses standard crowd control measures, resorting to live fire only to neutralize terrorist attempts to breach the fence, plant explosives on the border, or carry out terrorist attacks under the cover of the demonstrations.

"While the High Court in Jerusalem hears petitions seeking to curb the measures used by Israeli soldiers in the face of Gaza rioters trying to breach the security fence, they [rioters] keep setting agricultural lands on fire," Idan and Hajaj said in a joint statement.

"These human rights groups and the judges would be wise to remember that hurling rocks and torching fields are acts of violence. This type of violence causes immeasurable financial damage but also threatens human lives," the statement said.

"The use of incendiary kites to set fields on fire is no longer limited to Palestinians rioting near the border on Friday. It has become a daily occurrence. We demand that the IDF put a stop to it," the statement concluded.

Avigdor Kalifah, the agricultural director for the Negev communities, said that over 85 acres of crops have been destroyed so far, causing farmers significant financial damage.

"Just as agricultural terrorism has been gaining attention, I hope kite terrorism will also become part of the public agenda," he said.

He called the Palestinians' kite terrorism "torture," saying, "If they want to burn the fields, they may as well set them all on fire at once."

Meanwhile, the success of kite terrorism has apparently inspired the Palestinians to find a better way to set fires even farther from the border.

Images posted on social media Wednesday showed Palestinians arming large helium-filled balloons with incendiary materials.

One of the posts noted that unlike kites, incendiary balloons do not need a handler to steer them in the right direction and can be launched from anywhere in the Strip, and they can also remain airborne for a longer period of time and therefore travel further into Israel.

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