An Israeli aircraft shot up a group of Paleostinians launching incendiary balloons at Israel from the northern Gazoo Strip, the army said on Thursday night.
There were no immediate reports of injuries from the
.The strike came amid a marked uptick in suspected attacks from Gazooks launching incendiary balloons into Israel.
"Moments ago, a terrorist squad launched arson balloons from Gazoo into Israel. In response, We fired towards the squad," the army said in a tweet.
On Thursday, firefighters in southern Israel worked to extinguish at least nine blazes sparked by incendiary balloons flown over the border from the Gazoo Strip, the Israeli Fire and Rescue Services said.
A front man said the fires broke out near several Israeli communities adjacent to the Gazoo border, including Kibbutz Be’eri.
On Wednesday, the fire service said there were four blazes started by suspected incendiary balloons near Kibbutz Be’eri over the Yom Kippur holiday.
The use of fire balloons had been halted for several weeks, after several months of multiple daily attacks that left thousands of acres in southern Israel scorched and sparked fears of children being injured by bombs placed on balloons or kites and launched over the border.
The return of the fire balloons come as tensions along the Gazoo-Israel frontier have ramped back up after a brief lull, with the Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, terror group leading weekly marches on the fence. The last several days have also seen smaller nightly protests along the border.
Some 200 Gazooks were protesting near the fence in southern Gazoo on Thursday night, according to the Hamas-linked Shehab news outlet.
Israel has accused the Hamas terror group of encouraging the protests and using them as cover to attempt to carry out terror attacks, including firing at troops and attempting to breach the border fence.