Gaza Palestinian Group Says It Will Launch 5,000 Explosives At Israel
Image by gettyimages
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A group of Palestinians that claims to be behind the initiative to send incendiary kites and balloons from Gaza into southern Israel said it would launch 5,000 of the arson tools on Friday.
The group, which calls itself the kite builders unit, also said at a news conference Thursday afternoon in central Gaza that it would extend the range of the kites up to nearly 25 miles from the border.
Friday is Eid al-Fitr, a holiday that comes the day after the monthlong fast of Ramadan. Large protests are expected at the Gaza border on Friday.
Also Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces fired a warning shot at Gaza Palestinians as they prepared to launch a helium balloon carrying flammable material into southern Israel.
A military aircraft fired on the cell Thursday afternoon in the central Gaza Strip, the IDF said. The IDF also said it later carried out an airstrike in the area on what it called infrastructure used to prepare the balloons and kites that have set fire to thousands of acres of agricultural lands and woodlands in southern Israel in recent weeks.
“We view the use of incendiary balloons and kites very seriously and will continue to act to prevent their use,” the IDF said in a statement.
Contact Haley Cohen at [email protected]
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
