Incendiary balloons launched from the Gaza Strip on Friday caused four fires in southern Israel's Eshkol region, Israeli firefighters said.

The balloons are basic devices intended to set fire to farmland surrounding the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian enclave.

The last time such an attack took place was on July 25, setting off brush fires in the same region.

The Israeli army at the time retaliated with air strikes on targets of the Islamist movement Hamas, which rules the Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli fire department did not immediately provide details about Friday's blazes but said firefighters were trying to extinguish them.

Israeli media reports said fires broke out in forests in the Eshkol region.

Friday's balloon launches come after Lebanon's Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, fired a volley of rockets at Israel, prompting retaliatory shelling.

They also come as a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas has largely held since 11 days of deadly conflict in May.

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