Bird Sent To Israel From Gaza Wearing A Harness Holding Flammable Material
Common Kestrel Image by iStock
JERUSALEM (JTA) — First kites and balloons, and now birds are being used to by Palestinians in Gaza to set fires in southern Israel.
Israel Nature and Parks Authority personnel on Monday afternoon found a common kestrel, a member of the falcon family, hanging from a burned tree wearing a harness to which was attached a wire wrapped around flammable material.
The bird was discovered after workers put out a fire that had broken out in Habesor National Park.
It is the first time that an animal has been used to ignite fires, according to a statement from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
The authority said it is considering the possibility of filing a complaint – under the appropriate international treaties – over the use of an animal for terrorism.
At least eight large fires burned in southern Israel near the border with Gaza on Monday.
Meanwhile, on Monday evening, Israel announced it would again close the Kerem Shalom crossing, the only crossing for commercial goods and the main crossing for humanitarian aid between Israel and Gaza, after a rocket was fired into southern Israel earlier in the day despite a cease fire declared by Hamas late Saturday night.
The closure, which cuts off fuel and gas supplies to the coastal strip, will remain in effect until Sunday, the Defense Ministry announced. Food and medicines will continue to be allowed to pass through the crossing to Gaza, but each shipment will require individual approval.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
