Gaza Children's Kites Met With Israeli Warning of Drone-Level Retaliation

For many Palestinians in Gaza, the fear that a kite flown by a child could spark a military attack on their neighbourhood has become a pressing concern. This anxiety follows warnings from Israel that strikes will be launched if children's toys cross the border. Marwan Al Harazeen, a 55-year-old resident of the northern Gaza city who was displaced to Deir Al Balah in the centre, noted that children frequently fly kites near his tent, but urged parents to put an end to the activity.

“We need to take any Israeli threat seriously because they just need any justification for their attacks,” Mr Al Harazeen told The National.

The warning was issued after at least four kites from Gaza reportedly landed in the Nahal Oz kibbutz near the border over the weekend. According to The Times of Israel, the Israeli army found no suspicious objects on the kites and determined they posed no danger. However, the military recalled a previous campaign of attacks between 2018 and 2021 when incendiary kites and balloons from Gaza caused wildfires in Israel.

Mkhaimar Abusada, a Palestinian political analyst, explained that while Gazans began releasing kites and balloons carrying burning materials during the Great March of Return protests along the border in 2018, the current situation is entirely different. “It is true that these kites were used during the Great March of Return and the protests aimed at breaking the blockade, but at that time they carried incendiary materials that caused fires in fields on the Israeli side,” Mr Abusada told The National. “Now, however, they are simply kites.”

Defence Minister Israel Katz stated on Monday that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the military to enforce a policy of “zero-tolerance and zero-containment toward the launching of kites and balloons from Gaza toward the Negev settlements”.

“If the launches continue, powerful actions will be taken to put an end to the phenomenon,” Mr Katz wrote on X. “A balloon and a kite shall be treated the same as a drone – with or without explosives.”

Mr Abusada suggested that Israel might reference past attacks to justify heavier military measures in Gaza, despite the US-brokered ceasefire with Hamas that began in October last year. With upcoming Israeli elections and having failed to achieve his declared goal of eliminating Hamas following the group's October 7, 2023 attacks that initiated the war, Mr Netanyahu may also use the issue domestically, the analyst added. Unhappy with a new US-backed plan to disarm Hamas and end Israel’s military presence in Gaza, Mr Netanyahu “wants to achieve what they call absolute victory and accomplish the objectives of the war”, the expert said.

Nonetheless, Mr Abusada advised that Palestinians should recognize the potential consequences and work to prevent the kite issue from sparking escalation. “The issue could perhaps be contained at the community level, with families preventing their children from flying kites,” he proposed. “People are already in an extremely difficult situation and can’t withstand another escalation triggered simply because a child flew a kite.”