Hamas creates explosive kites in large quantities and in an organized manner, the IDF stressed, debunking the notion that children are behind the tactic.
By: United with Israel Staff
The IDF has documented and exposed Hamas’ responsibility for the relentless wave of airborne arson attacks on Israel’s south, debunking the widely accepted notion that it is a popular and unorganized form of terrorism and that children are behind it.
“The Hamas terror organization deliberately conducts arson terror attacks in an organized manner,” the IDF stated Sunday. “Hamas leads the arson and explosive kites phenomenon; it orchestrates the launches and will bear the consequences for its actions.”
The IDF demonstrated how this latest form of terrorism has evolved in recent weeks into “a deliberate activity, planned and executed by the Hamas terror organization, targeting Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip.”
First, a Hamas commander in charge of launching arson kites and balloons directs subordinate operatives, who prepare them, attaching flammable materials, the army explained.
Once the explosive kites and balloons are fully prepared, the operatives launch them into target areas within Israeli territory.
Arson kites are made by Hamas terror operatives in large quantities and in an organized manner, the IDF underscored.
The IDF posted a clip online in which terrorists are clearly seen preparing and launching the arson balloons from within a Hamas military post.
WATCH: Hamas terrorists prepare and launch arson and explosive device-laden kites and balloons, targeting Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip.
Read more:https://t.co/yFgUvCuaCZ pic.twitter.com/MdI8fSoQED
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) June 24, 2018
“This terror activity targets Israeli civilians, as well as Israeli agricultural lands and nature,” the IDF stressed.
The IDF emphasized that it responds to these terrorist attacks “in a calculated yet increasing fashion: firing warning shots nearby, targeting the terror infrastructure that belongs to the launchers and Hamas military targets located deep within the Gaza Strip.”
In the latest such “calculated response,” an Israel Air Force (IAF) aircraft on Sunday afternoon targeted a wagon used by Hamas terrorists to prepare explosive balloons in the northern Gaza Strip.
A few hours earlier, an IDF aircraft targeted a vehicle used by a group of Palestinians who attempted to launch arson balloons from the southern Gaza Strip into Israeli territory.
“The IDF will not allow this terror to threaten Israeli civilians and Israeli territory,” the IDF concluded.
Hamas’ Airborne Arson Continues to Strike
In the meantime, Israel’s south continued to contend with the Palestinian airborne terrorism on Sunday as firebomb-laden kites and balloons set new fires near communities on the border with Gaza.
Firefighters extinguished blazes near the agricultural communities of Kissufim, Be’eri and Nir Am.
Sunday’s fires came a day after incendiary kites launched by Palestinian terrorists from Gaza started 26 blazes in southern Israel.
The IDF in recent days has deployed a new detection system to combat the terrorism which has been plaguing the south for some three months, but with apparently limited success.
Israeli farmers in proximity to Gaza have been subjected to hundreds of burning kites. Some 500 blazes have destroyed several hundred acres of wood and farmland and have ruined produce worth millions of shekels.
Palestinian terrorists have launched more than 600 incendiary kites into Israel since the start of the “March of Return” some 12 weeks ago.
Despite the IDF’s best efforts to stop the kites in flight, more than 200 have set fire to Israeli fields and property. More than 430 fires have erupted, and 2,000 acres of wood and farmland have been damaged by the flames.
Israel has deployed drones to cut down the kites, with limited results. Due to the lack of a comprehensive solution to this low-tech, cheap weapon, there have been increasing calls in Israel for the IDF to respond as they would to any other terrorists threatening the country and to shoot the ‘fire kite’ fliers.