Jerusalem ( CNN ) -- The Israeli Air Force shot down an unidentified flying object over the Dimona nuclear plant in the Negev Desert Thursday , the Israel Defense Forces said . The object appeared in a designated no-fly zone , the air force was scrambled and the object was shot down , the IDF said . The object could have been a party balloon , the IDF said , but forces have not yet found the debris to determine what it was . There have been unconfirmed media reports that it was a motor-driven object . The air force reacted according to procedure when the object was spotted , the IDF said . The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported that last October `` IDF warplanes intercepted an Israeli ultralight aircraft that accidentally flew into the area and forced it to land at an airstrip in southern Israel . '' It also reported that `` an Israeli surface-to-air missile downed a crippled Israeli fighter-bomber that strayed into the restricted zone '' during the Six Day War in 1967 . The craft 's pilot was killed .
The location is in Israel 's Negev Desert . The object was in a closed airspace . It could have been a party balloon .