CAIRO: Gaza parents have been warned to stop their children flying kites in the war-ravaged enclave, after Israel threatened a forceful response if the Hamas militant group revives a tactic of launching incendiary kites over the border.
The popular committees, comprising representatives of local non-government organisations and charities that run Gaza displacement camps and shelters, issued the warning in a statement late on Monday (Aug 24).
The announcement was coordinated with Hamas authorities, a source in the militant group said.
“We are working tirelessly on the ground and doing everything possible to stop this practice, not to restrict the childhood of our children, who have already been deprived of the most basic rights to play and live in safety, but to protect their innocent lives,” the statement said.
In 2018, Gazans sent incendiary balloons and kites over the border, causing fires across hundreds of acres of open fields and farmlands, in what they said was in protest at the Israeli blockade of the Hamas-controlled enclave.
KITES SCARE ISRAELI VILLAGERS
In the past month, several kites that were not reported to be carrying incendiary materials were spotted drifting from Gaza into Israel, alarming Israelis who live in the nearby villages which came under attack by Hamas in the Oct 7, 2023 assault that sparked the Gaza war.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas that unless that stopped immediately, “those responsible” for launching kites, balloons or drones toward Israel would be targets of assassination and that areas from which they are sent will be ordered to evacuate.
