A photo of children playing with a kite in Gaza
Netanyahu, Katz threaten to displace Palestinians, intensify raids in Gaza over 'kites'
Afrasianet - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz on Sunday threatened to escalate assassinations in the Gaza Strip and displace Palestinians from several areas if the launch of "balloons and kites" from the Gaza Strip towards Israel does not stop.
This came in a joint statement issued by Netanyahu and Katz, following a session to assess the situation regarding what they described as "the threat of launching balloons and kites from the Gaza Strip towards Israel."
These planes are used by the children of the Gaza Strip for amusement and entertainment and do not carry any other materials because they are made of paper.
According to the statement, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, the head of the National Security Council and senior IDF officials participated in the evaluation session.
"Israel warns Hamas that if the rocket fire into Israel does not stop immediately, the army will increase the assassinations against those responsible," Netanyahu and Katz said.
They added that the army will also work to "evacuate the population" from areas from which "kites, drones and balloons are launched", according to the statement.
In recent days, Israeli media reported that several kites that came from Gaza had crashed towards Israeli settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip, noting that they were not carrying any explosives.
Earlier on Sunday, Katz threatened to resort to assassinations and evacuate residential neighborhoods in Gaza, in response to the launch of kites, balloons and drones towards settlements adjacent to the enclave.
Katz said he had instructed the army to "act strongly" and that the measures would include "targeting Hamas leaders responsible for the rockets and their perpetrators, evacuating the neighborhoods and areas from which the rockets are being carried out, and working against the terrorist infrastructure in those places," according to the Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom.
Katz said every launch was "an act of war in every sense of the word."
"A balloon is like a kite, and a kite is like a drone, whether it is carrying explosives or not," Katz added.
Israel's ongoing violations of the ceasefire agreement resulted in the death of about 1,286 Palestinians and the wounding of 4,257 others as of Saturday, according to data from the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip.
The ministry also announced that the death toll of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023 has risen to 73,420 martyrs and 174,369 wounded.
"Kite terrorism".. how does Netanyahu make an enemy out of paper?
One of the kites that Israel says was launched from Gaza (social media)
In this context, Mr. Mahmoud Lafi writes: Can kites call for a security alert and an Israeli military promise to carry out assassinations and evacuate entire residential neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip?
For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the flight of these planes seems to have been enough to summon the rhetoric of escalation, in a scene that restores to the fore, according to observers, a previous Israeli pattern of treating children's toys as a "security threat."
According to Al Jazeera's Palestine bureau director, Walid al-Omari, the media and the official Israeli establishment, whether military or political, have exaggerated this issue, portraying it as a threat to Israel.
But what has been described as the "artificial inflating" of children's kites involves a relentless Israeli effort by Netanyahu, in the eyes of analysts, to blow up the situation, justify further escalation and achieve political and electoral goals.
Israel and the Making of a "Paper Enemy"
• Alert and alert
According to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, the Israeli army is preparing for directives from the political leadership, in order to intensify assassinations and increase attacks in the Gaza Strip, following talk of flying kites from the Gaza Strip towards nearby settlements.
This preparedness was preceded by a public threat by Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yisrael Katz, in a joint statement, to carry out assassinations and evacuate neighborhoods in Gaza, "if (the Islamic Resistance Movement) Hamas does not immediately stop launching kites and drones."
Demonizing the game
In order to demonize the game and mobilize public opinion, the Israeli media called the phenomenon "kite terrorism," and Defense Minister Katz even went so far as to describe each launch as an "act of war in every sense of the word."
Israel's alert has escalated, despite acknowledging that these planes did not contain any explosives, compared to what happened in 2018, when incendiary kites and balloons were launched from Gaza and set fires in agricultural areas in the settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip.Acknowledgment of Counterfeiting.
In addition, the broadcaster reported that the information presented to Katz during the discussion of the matter concluded that the kites were being launched by children and adolescents.
The broadcaster quoted a military source as saying that in recent days, 10 kites were found devoid of explosives in the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip, noting that "the possibility of Hamas inspecting the area is being investigated."
Although no incendiary devices were detected on any of the kites, the IDF believes that they were fired under the direction of Hamas, as part of the movement's desire to test the Israeli army's ability to respond and to find out whether the launch of the kites will be met with gunfire or any other Israeli response.
What did Hamas say?
On Sunday evening, Hamas said that Israel's threat to target areas in the Gaza Strip and "displace its residents, and use children's games as an excuse for this" confirms its intention to continue the war and proceed with "plans of displacement and annihilation, under flimsy pretexts."
In its statement, the movement called on the US administration and the intermediary countries to shoulder their responsibilities, condemn the Israeli government's escalation, and commit it to the road map leading to a real ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas said it had previously warned of the seriousness of the allegations and threats made by the occupation regarding kites, noting that they are mainly children's toys in displacement camps, while the Israeli army occupies about 70% of the territory of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said that these threats, based on fabricating pretexts, are an attempt to justify "the continuation of aggression and violations against the people, leading to the threat of children in the Gaza Strip."
What is Netanyahu looking for?
This Israeli escalation comes in light of efforts by the United States and intermediary countries to reach understandings on the transition to the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, signed last October.
Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the Peace Council had reached an agreement with Hamas on its disarmament, including Israel's commitment to implement its commitments under the agreement.
The peace council approved the 15-point road map, which includes Israel's withdrawal from the enclave, the introduction of aid and the start of reconstruction, and while Hamas approved it, Israel declared it rejected.
• Evasion of benefits
For Israeli affairs expert Adel Shadid, it was clear that Israel was looking for an excuse for escalation, especially after Hamas agreed to the road map, and it was supported by mediators and 8 Arab and Islamic countries, which confused Israeli calculations and blocked a plan prepared by Netanyahu and Katz to expand the escalation on the Gaza Strip ahead of the upcoming Israeli elections next October.
Shadid, in an interview with Al Jazeera, said it is likely that the Gaza Strip will face what he described as a "major bloody escalation" if the mediators do not put pressure on the US administration to stop the Israeli plan.
• Israeli public pressure
The expert on occupation affairs concludes that Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide, feels the pressure of the Israeli public opinion, given that he has not achieved any of the goals of the war of extermination on Gaza, and therefore will resort to escalation in search of two main goals:
First: Restoring Netanyahu's image as a security man.
Second: Reintroducing the security and escalatory rhetoric and evoking the atmosphere of wars on the eve of the elections, in a way that allows Netanyahu to divert attention from the corruption issues that are pursuing him.
• Palestinian blood is fuel for elections
In light of these facts, it is not excluded that Netanyahu will resort to escalation in Gaza in an attempt to thwart the elections by postponing or canceling them, especially in light of what opinion polls show that the Likud party, which he leads, does not have ample opportunities to form the next government.
Political analyst Hossam Shaheen agrees with Shadid's view, explaining that the essence of the problem is related to the approach of the Israeli elections, as Israel has always used Palestinian blood and escalation against the Palestinians as one of the cards in the elections.
• Old New Policy
At the same time, however, Shaheen believes that Netanyahu does not need to invent a major issue, based on the issue of kites, considering that the main goal is to push the Palestinians towards displacement and evade any political entitlement that may come in the next stage.
Shaheen assures Al Jazeera that what is happening is part of an "old and new Israeli policy," which is represented in resorting to escalation whenever there are prospects for convergence of views, or international pressure emerges to push for a political solution, as Israel uses flimsy pretexts such as kites as a justification for repudiating political entitlements.
The kite incident sums up a lot, from its symbolic crossing from the besieged Gaza Strip to the historic land of Palestine, to Israel's horrific exaggeration of a danger to it, to the enormous paradox of this disproportionate confrontation between a light object made of cloth and sticks, and a ghoul with a nuclear arsenal that is crushing, right, and threatening others not only in Palestine but in all neighboring countries.
Katz's gruesome threats change nothing from the reality of Gaza, which is still a military operation and assassination Expansion and evacuations are part of the daily landscape of the population who are being chased for their lives, livelihoods and futures.
In the West Bank, Israel is expanding the cycle of terror to the point that the Israeli security establishment itself, which provides support and protection to the criminality of settlers, has issued warnings that these attacks are pushing the situation "out of control," with the number of attacks reaching thousands since the beginning of the year, in conjunction with the ongoing forms of displacement and land grabs.
In southern Lebanon, Israeli raids and bombings continue despite seven rounds of negotiations, which did not result in any cessation of attacks or decisive progress in Lebanon.
In Syria, Israel expanded its attacks into northern Syria by striking Abu al-Duhur airport in Idlib, and it was noteworthy in this incident that the objection did not come only from Damascus and Ankara, but also led to a verbal clash between the US envoy Tom Barak (who said that the US assessment did not confirm Israeli information that the strike was carried out to prevent a Turkish military positioning, warning that the strike almost dragged Turkey and Israel into a dangerous confrontation).
And the notorious Israeli Minister of War, who Israel has one of the strongest armies in the region, enjoys enormous air, intelligence and technological superiority, and specialized international institutions estimate the size of its arsenal at about 90 nuclear warheads.
And in return, a kite launched by boys from Gaza could turn into an "act of war" that calls for the threat of assassination, evacuation and bombing.
According to this so-called "divine right" in Israel, any attempt to resist, object, or take initiative, regardless of whether it is near or far (an Israeli newspaper recently spoke about the Saudi threat since the Khaybar incident in the days of the Prophet Muhammad), becomes a reason for the security, sovereignty and lives of others to be suspended.
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Source: Al Jazeera - Agencies
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