Israel Warns Gaza Over Kites Carrying Fire Into Israeli Farmland

During the Great March of Return in 2018, the Israeli army attacked peaceful Palestinian demonstrators, according to the report, and some demonstrators used kites and balloons to set fire to Israeli farmland near Gaza. Palestinians had said they were marching to demand the right to return to homes from which they or their families had been displaced. The report says that after the army shot and injured many people, some protesters began using kites and balloons.

Israel warned that if Palestinian armed groups again used kites to set Israeli farmland on fire, it would resort to “strong means,” and that Gazan parents had been told to stop their children from flying kites. The report attributes that warning to Israel, without giving further detail on who delivered it.

According to Reuters, a committee of non-governmental and charitable organizations that operate refugee camps and shelters in Gaza warned parents on the 24th not to let their children fly kites again. Hamas sources said the Hamas authorities agreed with the announcement. The committee’s statement said, “We are working on the ground to do everything we can to prevent children from continuing to fly their kites.” It added that the aim was not to limit the rights of children, who have already been deprived of basic rights and safe lives, but to protect their innocent lives.

The report also cites figures from an organization of medical doctors about injuries and treatment during the return marches of 2018 and 2019, but the numbers in the report are inconsistent, so they are not repeated here. According to Al Jazeera, a number of Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military during the return march in May 2018.

The report says Israeli villages near Gaza have recently found kites from Gaza carrying materials that do not burn, landing in their communities. It recalls that on October 7, 2023, Palestinian militants breached the border into Israel, killing more than 1,000 people. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas that people should immediately stop releasing balloons, kites and drones from Gaza, saying they would be targeted by the military and that residents of the area would be forced to evacuate. Protecting the young and the innocent is the stated purpose of the committee’s appeal, which in its own terms reflects care for the vulnerable (Mark 9:42).

Umm Mohammed, a mother in Gaza, said she feared her son might be injured. “Every summer, my 10-year-old son Ahmed will play with the other children, but I will not allow him to do so any more,” she said. Israeli officials claimed that Hamas had encouraged the flying of kites into Israel to challenge it, while Hamas officials said Israel was trying to create a reason to revive the fighting.

Another Israeli official said he had raised the issue with the Board of Peace, the body responsible for implementing the peace agreement. An anonymous official of the peace council reported that there appeared to be no weapons or flammable material on the kite. The official called the issue a “complex challenge,” saying, “As a Gazan child can easily be made of DIY, it is extremely difficult to deal with it.”

Palestinian political analyst Hussam Shaheen told Al Jazeera that the kite issue was nothing more than an excuse for Israel to avoid its political promises. He also questioned how a country widely regarded as nuclear could see Palestinian children flying kites as a threat to national security. The report notes that Israel had refused to comply with its obligations under the Gaza peace agreement before the warning was issued, and that experts believed the fear was related to the political situation. Shaping, in the report, pointed out that the Israeli government had gained support through its strong stance, and that Palestinians were often sacrificed in that context.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Mandarin Chinese)