The Board of Peace has conveyed a message to Hamas in recent days through Egyptian, Qatari, and Turkish mediators, demanding that the terrorist organization halt the launching of kites and all other activity directed at Israel, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The message was delivered through a recently established monitoring mechanism led by the United States and BoP Director-General Nickolay Mladenov.
“There will be serious consequences for continued violations,” the message warned.
“All militant activity in the Gaza Strip must stop, including the flying of kites. We have conveyed this message directly through the established mechanism,” a BoP official told the Post.
The official stressed that Israel must also comply with the ceasefire agreement, adding that “military action cannot extend beyond responding to genuine and imminent threats.”
The BoP is seeking to calm the situation in Gaza and create the conditions necessary to implement the agreements and begin the process of disarming Hamas.
“We want to get onto a path of ending mutual violations so that we can begin collecting Hamas’s weapons,” the official said. “The sooner we reach that stage, the sooner we can move into the phase in which Hamas is disarmed.”
Gazan parents reportedly stopping children from playing with kites
Gazan parents have been warned to stop their children flying kites in Gaza following Israel's demand.
The popular committees, comprising representatives of local non-governmental organizations and charities that run Gaza displacement camps and shelters, issued the warning in a statement late on Monday.
The announcement was coordinated with Hamas authorities, a source in the terrorist group said.
"We are working tirelessly on the ground and doing everything possible to stop this practice, not to restrict the childhood of our children, who have already been deprived of the most basic rights to play and live in safety, but to protect their innocent lives," the statement said.
Umm Mohammed, a mother from Gaza City who spoke with Reuters over a chat app, said she was worried that her son could be hurt.
"Every summer, my kid, Ahmed, 10, and the kids in the street fly those kites to entertain themselves, but I will not allow him to, not anymore," she said.
IDF accelerates efforts to kill October 7 terrorists
Israel has accelerated its efforts in recent weeks to kill terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre and held hostages.
On Monday, Israel carried out several strikes across Gaza, targeting five weapons storage facilities and a Hamas launch site.
“The warehouses that were targeted contained rockets, weapons, explosive devices, grenades, and additional military equipment,” the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said in a joint statement. “The targeted warehouses were established inside mosques and adjacent to humanitarian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.”
The strikes came after several kites were launched from Gaza into Israel in recent days at the direction of Hamas, reviving memories of the incendiary and explosive kites and balloons the terrorist organization launched toward Israel in the years leading up to breaking through the border fence on October 7, 2023.
BoP warned of increased IDF attacks if kites persist
Israeli officials warned the BoP on Sunday that Israel would escalate its activity in the Strip if the launches were not halted within 72 hours, an Israeli official told the Post.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz also warned in a joint statement that if the launches toward Israel did not stop immediately, “the IDF will act to intensify targeted operations against those responsible for the launches and will evacuate civilians from areas from which kites, drones, and balloons are launched.”