The chairman of the Blue and White Party, Benny Gantz, responded on Friday to the incendiary balloons that were fired from Gaza towards southern Israel despite the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas.
"Netanyahu is filling Hamas’ incendiary balloons with helium. This week there were a hundred fires,” Gantz told reporters as he visited a burnt field in southern Israel.
"The quiet must return, the black must disappear, and the hope must flourish – among us all the time, and it is also permissible on the other side. When there is no quiet, we have to fight, and when there is quiet, we have to advance the alternative reality of hope,” he continued.
At least 14 fires erupted in communities in the Gaza envelope on Friday as a result of incendiary balloons fired from the Strip.
On Friday morning, Israel confirmed that it had reached an agreement for a truce with the Hamas terror organization.
The deal would soften economic sanctions on Gaza in exchange for an end to incendiary bomb attacks on Israeli border towns and farm land.
As part of the agreement, Israel will expand the fishing area open to Gazan boats to 15 miles from the shore. Dozens of boats confiscated for straying from the approved fishing area will be returned as part of the deal.
In addition, Israel will resume the transfer of fuel to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which was closed on Tuesday in response to the ongoing balloon terrorism.
The deal, which was brokered by the Egyptian government and the United Nations, aims to end the regular attacks on Israeli border towns and farm land by Hamas terror cells, which have used balloons and kites to fly incendiary bombs over the frontier into Israeli territory.
A senior Israeli official said that the agreement would end Hamas attacks – or would be scuttled.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)