BICOM

Israel and Hamas have reportedly agreed a new ceasefire deal after several days of fires in Israel ignited by incendiary balloons launched from Gaza.

According to reports in the Palestinian media, Hamas will prevent the launching of incendiary balloons and will ensure that demonstrations on the Gaza border fence are non-violent. In return, Israel will expand the fishing zone to 15 miles, return 60 boats that it confiscated from fishermen, resume the supply of diesel to the Gaza Strip.

Yesterday 25 fires were started by incendiary balloons, one of which landed at the front door of someone’s house and another next to a sports hall where children were inside. There were no reports of injuries.

More than 100 fires were started on the Israeli side of the Gaza border, most of them in the Hof Ashkelon, Shaar Hanegev and Eshkol regional councils. Eshkol Regional Council Chairman Gadi Yarkoni said: “As far as the State of Israel is concerned, the balloon terrorism is not a strategic threat and the policy is therefore one of containment. This containment has brought the balloon terrorism to the threshold of our homes and this ongoing abandonment erodes the residents’ resilience. This has become a strategic threat to the State of Israel.”

Former head of Shaar Hanegev regional council and Blue and White MK Alon Shuster said: “Netanyahu understands that the emotional and social strength of the residents of the area can withstand any test, and therefore, to him, finding a solution to the daily terror from the Gaza Strip is not urgent.” He added: “As someone who serially refuses to take political action, he sees in Hamas a mirror image of himself, which allows him to maintain the current situation that is becoming impossible for the local residents.”

Leader of the New Right party Naftali Bennett said: “The south is burning, and the government is preoccupied with elections. The government’s policy not to kill terrorists who launch incendiary balloons endangers lives and undermines deterrence. An incendiary balloon is like an anti-tank missile, and the person who launches it is a terrorist trying to murder Israelis, and he must be attacked. When the balloon terrorism first began, I said that the terrorists must be attacked, but my opinion was rejected by the security cabinet, and now we’ve reached the point of 14 fires in one day. If the security cabinet doesn’t get its act together, we will be paying the cost of this in blood.”