Gaza balloons cause fires

OCCUPIED-AL-QUDS: Incendiary balloons launched from the Gaza Strip on Sunday caused fires in southern Israel, firefighters said, the first such attack in over three weeks.

Firefighters extinguished brush blazes "in three points in a small area in the Eshkol region," a statement said, noting that investigations had "determined the cause as being incendiary balloons."

The balloons are basic devices intended to set fire to farmland surrounding the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian enclave. Israel has recently responded to such attacks with overnight air strikes, targeting facilities belonging to Gaza’s Hamas Islamist rulers.

The last time balloons from Gaza caused a fire in Israel was July 2. On July 12, Israel announced it was expanding the fishing zone off Gaza and allowing additional imports into the Palestinian territory in the light of the "recent security calm".