Monday, July 9, 2018

Israel establishes task force to combat ‎Palestinian arson terrorism - Itsik Saban


by Itsik Saban

Relentless kite terrorism has so far decimated over 8,000 acres of forest and farmland on the Israeli side of the border


Israel will form a special task force to combat ‎Palestinian arson terrorism that has been wreaking ‎havoc on Israeli communities adjacent to the Israel-‎Gaza Strip border.‎

Fire and Rescue Commissioner David Simchi announced ‎the move on Sunday, saying the task force would be ‎exclusively responsible for dealing with fires ‎sparked by incendiary kites and firebomb balloons ‎sent over the border. ‎

Headed by a Fire and Rescue Services ‎colonel, the ‎task force will comprise firefighters from the ‎service's southern district, as well as Homefront ‎Command teams.‎‏
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Palestinian kite terrorism, which has been ravaging ‎‎Gaza-vicinity communities since late April, ‎has so ‎‎far sparked ‎‎860 fires. Over 8,000 acres of ‎forest ‎‎and ‎‎‎agricultural ‎‎land ‎on the Israeli side of ‎the ‎‎border have been decimated, causing millions of ‎‎dollars ‎in damage. ‎

‎The Nature and Parks Authority said the fires have ‎‎destroyed 25% of all nature reserves near the ‎‎border. The damage to the area's flora and fauna ‎‎will ‎take years to rehabilitate, it said. ‎

The decision to establish the task force was made ‎over the relentless nature of the kite campaign, ‎which Hamas – the terrorist group that rules Gaza – ‎refuses to curtail.‎

If anything, Hamas operatives have been trying to ‎upgrade the kites to fly deeper into Israeli ‎territory.‎

Fire and Rescue Services data indicates that there ‎are five points along the 60-kilometer (37-mile) ‎border between Gaza and Israel from where terrorists ‎fly incendiary devices. ‎

While fires near the border rage daily, the data ‎also shows a decrease in the overall number of major ‎blazes, which the Fire and Rescue Services attributes ‎to the firefighters' readiness on the ground as ‎well as to the fact that, given the devastation in ‎the area, new fires have fewer areas into which they ‎can spread.‎

‎"The new task force will adapt to the dynamic nature ‎of operations on the ground and will allow the teams ‎currently deployed near the Gaza border to return to ‎their normal missions," Simchi ‎said Sunday. ‎

He noted that the task force will also coordinate ‎wide-scale missions with the IDF, Israel Police, ‎Jewish National Fund, Nature and Parks Authority and ‎the heads of the local communities.‎

The border-vicinity area will be split into two ‎sectors. Large firefighting teams will be assigned ‎to each sector and they will have a variety of ‎advanced measures at their disposal, including all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles recently purchased ‎by the Public Security Ministry. ‎

The new vehicles are equipped with special gear to ‎carry water and flame retarding agents and are meant to be used as a first ‎response ahead of the firefighters' arrival at the ‎scene. ‎


Itsik Saban

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/07/09/israel-forms-designated-task-force-to-combat-%e2%80%8epalestinian-arson-terrorism/

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