JERUSALEM (JTA) — Balloons rigged with incendiary devices were discovered in Jerusalem and a Tel Aviv suburb.
A woman discovered the balloons on Thursday in the Valley of the Cross, located near Israel’s Knesset, or parliament building in the heart of Jerusalem. She brought them to her next stop and called police.
Security officials have called on the public not to touch the devices and immediately call police.
On the same day, an incendiary balloon was discovered in the coastal city of Bat Yam, a suburb of Tel Aviv.
The latest balloons follow a day after a balloon carrying an incendiary device landed in Jerusalem’s upscale German Colony neighborhood. This comes on the heels of a similar arson balloon discovered in the courtyard of a home in the West Bank settlement of Givat Zeev, located just north of Jerusalem.
Last week, an incendiary balloon landed on a highway near the Modiin industrial zone in central Israel.
It has been six months since Palestinians in Gaza began sending incendiary balloons and kites over the border toward southern Israel as part of March of Return protests. The balloons being discovered in central Israel are believed to be copycat efforts on the part of Palestinians in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.
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