Israeli officials have accused Hamas of preparing new attacks on the country using kites and balloons and have given the Iran-backed group until Wednesday to stop their launches, or Israel will take retaliatory measures.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on Monday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had been instructed “not to hold back and show no tolerance for the launching of kites and balloons from Gaza towards the communities of the Negev.” The Negev is a region in southern Israel that became one of the targets of Hamas attacks in October 2023, leading to the start of the war in Gaza.
“If the launches continue, decisive measures will be taken to put an end to this phenomenon,” Katz stated. He added that “a balloon or kite will be treated the same as a drone—with or without explosives.”
History of attacks using kites
In the years leading up to the attacks on October 7, kites and balloons with attached incendiary or explosive devices were launched from Gaza. They caused fires that destroyed thousands of acres of agricultural land and forests in Israel.
The discovery over the weekend of about six kites that landed in border communities, although they did not have similar devices, raised concerns about the resumption of such attacks. Hamas denied preparing a new offensive.
Basem Naim, a representative of Hamas, said in a social media post on Sunday: “Israel is giving Hamas three days to stop flying kites, otherwise it will launch a massive air attack.” Naim also stated that Israel seeks to “harshly deal with paper airplanes launched from Gaza by children trying to find their innocent childhood amid the ruins.”
Threat to the ceasefire and new escalation
This confrontation threatens to undermine the ceasefire brokered by the United States in October 2025, which temporarily ended two years of full-scale war between Israel and Hamas.
During the initial attacks by Hamas, about 1,200 Israelis were killed, while in subsequent hostilities, according to the Palestinian side, more than 70,000 Palestinians died. Gaza was largely destroyed during the conflict, and reconstruction work has not yet begun.
Currently, Israeli forces control about two-thirds of the territory of Gaza and continue to attack Hamas strongholds. According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, more than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed in the enclave since the ceasefire began. Efforts to negotiate a longer ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops have been largely blocked by disagreements over how and when Hamas should disarm.
Israel fears new arming of Hamas
Rafi Babian, head of the security service of the regional council, which includes border communities that suffered significant losses during the infiltration of Hamas across the border, reported that he examined two kites that fell in the area. The length of their strings reached 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles).
Israeli security officials said this could indicate Hamas‘s preparation to use fiber-optic controlled drones, which Hezbollah has effectively used against Israel in the north.
Orit Strock, a minister and member of the Israeli security cabinet, said on Monday on Army Radio that the long strings attached to the kites “are a signal, and we must respond to it very, very clearly.”
The Israeli group of survivors of October 7, known as the October Council, published a report on Monday claiming that soldiers and field observers saw the process of rearming Hamas, including the production of rockets and incendiary kites.
Source: Bloomberg
