Israel warns of 'forceful' response to kites flown from Gaza

Israel has cautioned Hamas that it will rise strikes on Gaza after concern over launches of kites, drones and balloons from the territory.

Key points

• It is concerning 800m (2, 620ft) from the Gaza border, on Friday and Saturday.
• "Forceful actions will be taken to put an end to this phenomenon, " Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz remarked on Monday.
• A four-year-old boy called Mohammed Taha was killed when a building in al-Zawayda, just north of Maghazi refugee camp, was bombed, according to local media.
• UK, Canada and Australia condemn Israel for refusing criminal probe into aid worker killings in Gaza.
• The Israeli reports cited military sources as saying they believed Hamas was behind the kites and that they might have been intended to test Israel's response.

Notably, a number of kites – which were not carrying explosives – were identified in an Israeli community near the border with Gaza over the weekend, local media documented.

Before the war, kites and balloons carrying incendiary devices were introduced into Israel, causing fires that burned forest and farmland.

Hamas has denied responsibility for the new kites and remarked they belonged to "children searching for their innocent childhood amid the rubble".

In practice, the group additionally accused Israel of using the kites as a "pretext" for continued air strikes in Gaza despite the ceasefire agreed last October.

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Four kites were discovered in Kibbutz Nahal Oz. It is concerning 800m (2, 620ft) from the Gaza border, on Friday and Saturday. A number of more were identified elsewhere in southern Israel last week, according to local media.

Meanwhile, the Israeli reports cited military sources as saying they believed Hamas was behind the kites and that they might have been intended to test Israel's response.

No suspicious materials were attached to the kites and that they did not pose a threat, the military remarked.

But Katz cautioned there would be "zero tolerance" and stated "a balloon is treated like a kite, and a kite is treated like a drone, with or without explosives."

Residents of Nahal Oz remarked in an official note that they feared the return of incendiary kites and balloons, adding: "We will not accept a policy of containment when it comes to our security."

Hamas cautioned of "the danger of the allegations and threats" from Israel and stated the kites were "basically children's toys from displacement camps".

"These threats are based on fabricated pretexts and are an attempt to justify the continuation of the aggression and violations against our people, " a spokesman for the group continued.

On Sunday, Palestinian health authorities stated two individuals were killed and seven others injured in two Israeli strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp and the town of al-Zuwayda, both in central Gaza.

Notably, a four-year-old boy called Mohammed Taha was killed when a building in al-Zawayda, just north of Maghazi refugee camp, was bombed, according to local media.

For context, the Israeli military remarked it killed the commander of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site in the Maghazi area, whom it identified as Ismail Abu Ful, and that it had cautioned the residents to evacuate beforehand.

"There is no ceasefire, there is nothing, " Abu Ahmed, a displaced man who had been sheltering nearby, informed Reuters news agency. "We want solutions, we want to live in peace."

On Monday, Palestinian media documented that a man called Mohammed Abu Asad was killed in an overnight Israeli strike on a tent in the central town of Deir al-Balah.

In practice, the Israeli military remarked Abu Asad was a member of the elite Nukhba forces of Hamas's military wing who had taken part in the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel.

For context, the Israeli military introduced a campaign in Gaza in response to the cross-border assault, during which concerning 1, 200 individuals were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

More than 74, 420 individuals have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, including 1, 288 since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Taken together, the developments around israel warns of ' forceful' response to kites flown from Gaza point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.