The Israeli military on Sunday said it carried out four airstrikes targeting Palestinians launching burning kites and balloons into southern Israel.
No one was injured in the strikes, but it marked an escalation in Israel’s response to a phenomenon that has wreaked havoc on fields and nature reserves in southern Israel in recent weeks. Burning kites set fields ablaze in more than a dozen locations on a hot, windy, dry Saturday.
The army said two of the airstrikes targeted vehicles and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip belonging to Palestinians involved in launching “arson balloons” or kites.
Gazans began flying kites with burning rags attached to them during mass protests against the Israeli and Egyptian blockade of the territory. Israeli troops have fired on the protesters, killing more than 120 Palestinians since the weekly demonstrations began on March 30.
Most of the casualties, who also include some 3,800 wounded by gunfire, have been unarmed, according to Palestinian health officials. The Israeli military says militants have endangered civilians by using the protests as cover to carry out attacks and to try to breach the border fence. – READ MORE
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