Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Wednesday, October 10, 2018

In six months, Gaza balloons burned 3,300 acres of forest, 4,000 of farmland

10 October 2018, 2:17 pm 0 Edit

More than 3,000 acres of forest in the northern and western Negev desert have been damaged by arson attacks from Gaza.

Marking six months since Palestinians in Gaza began sending incendiary balloons and kites over the border toward southern Israel, Keren Kayemeth L’Yisrael-Jewish National Fund reports that some 3,279 acres — a total of 12,270 dunams – of forests have been damaged by fires caused by the attacks. Another 4,000 acres of farmland also have been destroyed by the fires.

The largest amount of damage occurred in the Be’eri and Kissufim forests in the western Negev, and in forests near the city of Sderot and Kibbutz Lahav in the northern Negev.

— JTA