A number of fires broke out Tuesday in five locations in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip as a result of incendiary kites that were released from across the border by Arab terrorists. Firefighting teams operating at the fire points at Netiv Ha’asara, Nir Am, Kibbutz Erez and near Sapir College have gained control over all the fires in the area, and are working to extinguish them completely.
Moria Almakayes, a student at Sapir College in the northwestern Negev desert near Sderot, told Channel 2 News: “We left the library and saw fire in all the fields beyond the college grounds, it was crazy and powerful. There was a strong smell and all the public spaces filled with smoke. It was really scary and stressful, we did not know where to run, where to go, what to do. Later on, we began to see that the firefighters were calming the situation and putting out the fire.”
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman sent a warning to the terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, saying: “I don’t usually keep open accounts, I close all my accounts.” Which would have sounded scary and determined, if not for that famous 48-hour account Liberman has kept open for Ismail Haniyeh more than two years ago.
On Monday morning, Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan announced that “terrorist kite launchers must become a target for preemptive assassinations,” adding that “Hamas commanders cannot walk freely, they must pay the price for renewing terror against Israel.”
On Monday, fires broke out in the area of the Be’eri Forest, in the fields of Kibbutz Nir Am, in the vicinity of the Sderot train station, and next to the Sapir Academic College.
About a month ago, the state decided to recognize farmers in the Gaza Strip vicinity as victims of acts of war. Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon discussed the financial damage caused by kite terrorism and compensation to the farmers, saying, “We decided to give 50% advances on the damage estimates, and the rest will be processed as quickly as possible.”