Two separate fires erupted Wednesday in the Be’eri Forest near Israel’s southern border with Gaza.
The fires erupted after incendiary balloons launched by Gaza terrorists touched down in the area.
KKL-JNF officials said firefighters were working to extinguish the flames.
This is not the first time wildfires have resulted from incendiary balloon attacks by Gaza terrorists.
Such attacks have resulted in hundreds of fires in southern Israel over the past five years. In June 2018, officials said the attacks resulted in an estimated $1.4 million in agricultural damage to the region. Tens of thousands of dunams of crops were destroyed, as were pine and eucalyptus trees planted in the 1960s.
The Be’eri Forest is the centerpiece of the annual Scarlet South Festival when the stunning crimson anemones bloom after the rainy season.
And it was that forest in particular that was set ablaze by Gaza arson terror in May 2018, and again in May and June 2021. But others were torched as well – a total of 2,500 acres of forest were blackened in 650 fires by August 2018.
In May 2021, there were more incendiary balloon attacks; on May 9, 2021, 39 fires were started in southern Israel due to the wave of arson terror, which destroyed thousands of dunams of wheat fields, forest and nature reserves alike.
In June 2021, the attacks resumed, torching fields, forests and nature reserves in the Eshkol Regional Council district, the Be’eri Forest and the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council district.
It’s clear the pattern is again beginning to repeat itself. Will the government take action to stop the eco-terrorism in time? Has the IDF succeeded in developing a way to prevent the flying explosives from reaching Israel? Stay tuned.
