Gaza terrorists prepare kites to be set on fire and flown across the border into southern Israel. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.

The Israeli military conducted an airstrike on a Hamas observation post in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, in response to continuing cross-border kite bomb and incendiary balloon attacks launched by Palestinian terrorists in the coastal enclave.

The IDF has also fired warning shots toward terror cells several times in recent days as they prepared to fly flammable objects over the border into southern Israel.

In a tweet, the IDF said it “views the use of incendiary balloons and kites with great severity and will operate to prevent their use.”

The IDF views the use of incendiary balloons and kites with great severity and will operate to prevent their use

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) June 15, 2018

Earlier on Friday, a booby-trapped balloon launched from Gaza landed on a road in Israel’s Sha’ar HaNegev region. Police sappers were called to the scene and demolished the device in a controlled explosion.

Over the past two months, flammable objects sent across the border by terrorists in Gaza have caused extensive damage to agricultural fields and forests in southern Israel.

Earlier this week, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Hamas has been seizing helium supplied by Israel to hospitals in Gaza and using it to inflate incendiary balloons.

On Friday, it was reported that the Israeli defense industry had adapted a new rifle sighting system to intercept airborne threats, including kite bombs and incendiary balloons.