In a burnt and blackened wheat field along the Gaza border, Israeli firefighters brave the dry summer heat to extinguish blazes caused by fire balloons launched from the Palestinian enclave.
A Bedouin man extinguishes a fire in an area that has seen blazes caused by fire balloons launched from the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, near Kibbutz Be'eri on the Israeli side of the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip August 24, 2020. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Winds blowing inland from the Mediterranean Sea carry the balloons towards southern Israeli towns and farmland, dripping chemicals as they fly and igniting brush fires when they land. Local residents and Israeli troops have joined firefighters to fight the blazes. A spokesman for Israel’s National Fire and Rescue Authority said some 460 fires so far have ravished mostly open areas, but have also damaged nature reserves.
With tensions high, Israel closed its main commercial crossing with the impoverished strip earlier this month and halted fuel imports, causing Gaza’s only power plant to shut down. Gaza authorities announced a lockdown on Monday after a coronavirus outbreak in the enclave.
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