Another ‘Kite Fire’ Destroys Large Part of Kibbutz’s Wheat Crop

Hundreds of dunams of wheat were lost Sunday afternoon as yet another major fire caused by Gaza Arab terrorists erupted in the Gaza border fence area. The fire at Kibbutz Nir-Am spread quickly, consuming a large section of the kibbutz’s wheat field. Roads were closed and train service south of Ashkelon was halted for several hours, as dozens of firefighters battled the blaze.

The fire Sunday was caused by a kite loaded with incendiary material flown into Israeli airspace by Gaza terrorists, who set off the material when the kite landed. Sunday’s fire came after a weekend in which at least 20 fires burned, with one destroying some 300 dunams in the Carmi forest. At least four planes were dispatched to fight the fire from the sky. Altogether, the fires consumed thousands of dunams of forest and farmland.

After Gaza terrorists fired three missiles at Israeli civilians early Sunday – with the IDF responding – quiet reigned in the skies later Sunday morning and afternoon. However officials were expecting both the fires and the missile attacks to continue through at least Tuesday – “Naksa Day”- marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the 1967 Six Day War. IDF officials expect an increase in tension as that day approaches, although it is not clear what form that tension will take, officials told Yediot Acharonot.

With the failure of the “March of Return” several weeks ago – in which dozens of Gaza Arabs, nearly all of them Hamas terrorists, were killed trying to breach the border fence – it appears unlikely that Hamas will again attempt to organize mass riots of the scale that it had been organizing, officials said. However, the riots that took place over the weekend – with about 3,000 Gazans showing up at a dozen different sites along the border fence – are likely to continue for the foreseeable future, the officials said.