A miracle occurred in a Chareidi neighborhood in Netivot on Tuesday evening when an incendiary device exploded on a basketball court where a group of Chareidi boys were playing.
A moment before the explosion, one of the boys noticed the balloon, from which the incendiary device had detached, and called to his friends to flee, averting a mass tragedy. One boy was lightly injured by shrapnel.
“We play basketball every evening after learning,” one of the boys told Chareidim10. “During the game, one of the boys saw the balloon from which the device had detached. He yelled to all of us that an incendiary device is falling.”
“We all ran – and then a huge explosion occurred. If my friend hadn’t noticed the balloon, there could have been casualties.”
“When the explosion occurred, I was in the courtyard and I heard a deafening explosion,” a witness told Chareidim10. “It was so powerful that I was sure than something happened – I saw smoke in front of me. My ears were still ringing for an hour afterward.”
“Think what could have happened here. We need to thank Hashem for what happened here today. Nisei Nissim!”
בלון שנושא מטען חבלה נחת במגרש כדורסל בנתיבות – והתפוצץ. לא היו נפגעים | תיעוד @Itsik_zuarets
(צילום: חדשות ביטחון שדה בטלגרם) pic.twitter.com/xDeNyDQDi6
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 25, 2020
Police sappers arrived at the scene and the area was closed off while an investigation took place. According to the sappers, an incendiary device that had disconnected from balloons fell at the site. B’Chasdei Hashem, there were no serious injuries.
Earlier on Tuesday, two large incendiary devices attached to balloons were found on Moshav Patish near Ofakim.
A total of 29 fires were ignited in southern communities as a result of arson balloons on Tuesday, preceded by 36 on Monday, 28 on Sunday, and 35 on Shabbos.
The IDF carried out airstrikes on Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip once again on early Wednesday morning in response to the continued launching of the arson balloons into southern Israel.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Qatari envoy Mohammed el-Emadi arrived in the Gaza Strip, bearing $30 million in cash in an effort to calm the cross-border conflict.
UPDATE:
Palestinian media now reporting that Qatari envoy has entered Gaza with the aid money. He will be negotiating with Hamas and also passing on Israeli response to the demands made by Hamas. https://t.co/AHXrYdwLsk
— FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 25, 2020
Some political analysts attribute the uptick of Hamas violence as leverage for increased cash from Qatar to aid the two million Gazan residents, 60% of whom are unemployed. The situation of Gazan citizens has worsened as a result of Hamas’s attacks on Israel’s and Israel’s resulting restrictions on the Strip. Due to the halt of fuel imports, the Gaza power plant has shut down and residents only have three to four hours of electricity per day.
Qatar has agreed to increase its monthly “bribes” to Hamas to $40 million in cash through March, according to Arab media reports. The envoy reportedly told Hamas that Israel has agreed to ease restrictions if the launching of arson balloons ends.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Well written article – terribly written headline.
In the mean time the IDF will blow up another empty warehouse. Yeah IDF!
the above is sarcasm.
In reality we must KILL the terrorists and their terror supporting families. Blowing up empty warehouses will not bring a stop the the terrorists trying to kill us.
Learn from the USA who killed Bin Laden and some of his family members and dumped his body into the sea.
That is the way to do it!
B”H the boys were saved, but this does not seem to have been at all miraculous. One boy noticed the balloon, told his friends to run for their lives, which they did, and they outran the incendiary device. How is that miraculous?