Gazans demonstrating have come up with a new, light, inexpensive and almost unstoppable way to target Israeli army posts based on the Gaza Strip border.
Protestors were launching flaming kites loaded with small Molotov cocktails, which can burn land beyond the border.
A fire broke out in a forest near a Gaza Strip military site, flames were seen rising from the scene where Molotov cocktails were tossed at by young men protesting from within the fence besieging Gaza.
Israeli authorities deployed specialized firefighting crews, including helicopters, trying to prevent fires from grazing crops and agricultural land.
This is not the first time modest means were used by demonstrators to set off fires. Israeli media also covered the several fires which broke out in large areas because of what they labeled a ‘confusing weapon,’ in reference to the flaming kites.
Israeli media reported that about 200 Dunams of agricultural land had been burnt in the northern Gaza Strip as a result of the handmade device.
Masked young men announced the formation of a “flaming kite unit” carrying “Molotov cocktails,” and promised to launch large numbers of them within days.
The introduction of flaming kites confused Israeli snipers based at the Gaza Strip borders— this method of airborne arson left them paralyzed and unable to quickly respond.
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that the Israeli army is looking for solutions to this new phenomenon, which poses a security challenge. It also called on farmers from Gaza enclaves to be cautious.
The warning came after the break of about eight fires that led to the destruction of wheat farms in the sector’s vicinity.
Young men usually fly flaming kites in the direction of the wind, waiting for them to cross the border and drop.
Israeli farmers protested and leaders of the Eshkol settlement council issued a statement accusing kite launchers of causing casualties.
Demonstrators on the borders of the Gaza Strip returned to marches that started at the end March and that are expected to continue until mid-May, commemorating the “Nakba” on May 15.
Other than flaming kites, protestors are burning rubber tiresin a bid to obscure the vision of Israeli snipers lined up on the border.
