THOUSANDS OF ACRES DESTROYED IN 6 MONTHS OF GAZA ARSON BALLOONS: More than 3,000 acres of forest in the Northern and Western Negev desert have been damaged by terrorist arson attacks from Gaza. Marking six months since Gazan Arabs began sending incendiary balloons and kites over the border toward southern Israel, Keren Kayemeth L’Yisrael-Jewish National Fund reported on 10 Oct. 2018 that some 3,279 acres, a total of 12,270 dunams, of forests have been damaged by fires caused by the attacks. Another 4,000 acres of farmland also have been destroyed by the fires. Keren Kayemeth firefighting teams have been on call 24/7, in order to quickly detect and respond to the ongoing fires. KKL-JNF’s Board of Directors last week allocated 100 million shekels, or about $27.5 million, for special projects to help the Gaza border area communities. Meanwhile, copycats in Judea & Samaria have begun to send arson balloons toward Jerusalem and central Israel. An incendiary balloon was discovered on Wed. 10 Oct. 2018 in Jerusalem’s German Colony neighborhood. This comes on the heels of a similar arson balloon discovered in the courtyard of a home in the town of Givat Ze’ev, located just north of Jerusalem. Last week an incendiary balloon landed on a highway near the Modiin industrial zone in central Israel. (INN)