Israel halves Gaza fishing zone over incendiary balloon fires

Israeli firefighters say they extinguished brush blazes in three points in a small area in the Eshkol region.

Israel has reduced the fishing zone off Gaza by half, defence officials said, after incendiary balloons launched from the Palestinian enclave caused fires in Israel. “It has been decided to reduce the fishing zone in the Gaza Strip from 12 nautical miles to six nautical miles,” the Israeli military branch responsible for civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories (COGAT) said on Sunday. “The decision was made following the continued launching of incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, which constitutes a violation of Israeli sovereignty,” it said in a statement.