Incendiary balloon lands some 20 kilometers from Gaza
No injuries or damage caused by airborne device, which lands in Lachish region; second flaming object said to spark fire in border area
An incendiary balloon apparently launched from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday landed in the Lachish region, some 20 kilometers from the Palestinian territory.
A police sapper was called to defuse the object, which landed in an open field. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
Airborne incendiary devices flown from Gaza usually land within the immediate area around the coastal enclave and are rarely reported to travel such distances.
A second incendiary balloon launched from Gaza meanwhile sparked a small fire after landing in the Eshkol Regional Council, according to local officials.
המתיחות בדרום | צרור בלוני תבערה נמצא בשטח חקלאי בתחום המועצה האזורית לכיש. חבלן משטרה הוזעק למקום ונטרל את הסכנה@pozailov1 pic.twitter.com/PS8SKEPPIh
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) March 27, 2019
The incidents came as a tense calm returned to southern Israel and Gaza following intense fighting between the army and Palestinian terror groups earlier in the week.
The violence started after a rocket fired from Gaza struck a farming community in central Israel early Monday, leveling a home and injuring seven people.
Israeli warplanes subsequently carried out dozens of bombing runs and Gazans fired some 60 projectiles at southern Israel, with the violence only waning before dawn Tuesday.
Two more projectiles were fired at Israel overnight, prompting further Israeli raids in the Strip, but there we no additional rocket launches or retaliatory strikes Wednesday.
Hamas, the terror group that rules Gaza, had announced an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire deal Monday evening, but Israeli officials have denied such an agreement.
The latest violence came as the army braced for potential large-scale clashes along the Gaza border over the weekend to mark a year since the start of the so-called March of Return protests, which began March 30, 2018.
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