Palestinians fly balloons loaded with flammable material to be thrown at the Israeli side, near the Israel-Gaza border in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa.

Against a background of ongoing tensions on the Israel-Gaza border, an attack balloon flown into Israel was found to be armed with an anti-tank missile warhead. It caused no fatalities.

The discovery of the device in the area of the Sdot Negev Regional Council marks an escalation in the so called “balloon terror” directed against Israel. Previous balloons sent from Gaza have tended to contain incendiary rather than powerful explosive devices. Though there have been no fatalities, the incendiary balloons have caused millions of dollars in damage to farmlands near the border.

The warhead came after a period of intense tension between Israel and the Gaza-ruling terror group Hamas. On Friday night, the IDF struck two Hamas targets in the Strip following the firing of a rocket into southern Israel. The rocket struck an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council and caused no injuries. Another rocket was reportedly fired but landed within Gazan territory.

Three other terror balloons were also found on Israeli soil.

According to Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, the IDF said in a statement that it “views every attempt to harm Israeli citizens with great severity, and will continue to act aggressively against these terror activities. The Hamas terror organization bears responsibility for everything that is done in and from the Gaza Strip.”