Hamas says Israeli threats over Gaza kites seek to justify attacks on children

Hamas said Sunday that Israeli threats over kites and balloons launched from the Gaza Strip were an attempt to fabricate pretexts for continued attacks and threaten Palestinian children.

The statement came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened further assassinations and the displacement of Palestinians from parts of Gaza unless the launching of kites and balloons toward Israel stopped.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem warned against Israeli "claims and threats" over the kites, saying they were primarily children's toys used in displacement camps.

"These threats, based on fabricated pretexts, are an attempt to justify the continuation of aggression and violations against our people, reaching the point of threatening children in the Gaza Strip," he said.

Qassem urged the US administration, mediators and guarantors to pressure Israel to halt attacks that he said were undermining the ceasefire, which the Palestinian side was fully observing.

Several kites have been found in recent days near Israeli communities bordering Gaza, with Israeli authorities saying they came from the enclave.

The Israeli army said Saturday that four kites found near the Nahal Oz settlement carried no suspicious materials and "posed no danger to the public."

Katz nevertheless threatened Sunday to resort to assassinations and evacuate residential areas in Gaza in response to kites, balloons and drones reaching Israeli communities near the enclave.

He described every such launch as "an act of war," saying a balloon was equivalent to a kite and a kite to a drone, "whether it carries explosives or not."

Netanyahu also threatened further escalation if the launches from Gaza did not stop.

The Israeli army has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured over 174,000 others in a brutal offensive since October 2023.