Palestinian Boy Tears Up His Kites After Israel Warns Gaza Launches Will Be Treated Like Drones

A Palestinian child in Gaza was filmed tearfully tearing apart his handmade kites after Israeli officials warned that kites launched towards Israeli communities would be treated as threats even if they were not carrying explosives.

Video circulating from Gaza shows Muhammad Ahmad al-Mufti destroying paper kites he had made himself after hearing Israel's warnings over kites crossing from Gaza into nearby Israeli communities.

Eyad Amawi of the Gaza Relief Committee told Drop Site News that al-Mufti's father had earlier been killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid. IBTimes UK has not independently verified that account.

In the footage, the boy appears upset as he rips apart the kites, naming political leaders while destroying one of his sources of recreation.

'So that Netanyahu is satisfied,' he said. 'So that Katz is satisfied. So that Trump is satisfied. They want to deprive us of the thing we love,' al-Mufti said as he cried. 'I swear my heart is breaking.'

Israel Warns Over Kites Crossing From Gaza

The incident followed warnings from Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, who ordered the Israeli military to respond immediately and forcefully to kites, balloons or drones launched from Gaza towards Israeli communities.

'A balloon is treated like a kite, and a kite is treated like a drone, with or without explosives,' Katz said. He added that anyone who organised, launched or facilitated such launches would be dealt with 'immediately and with the utmost severity'.

Several kites were found near the Gaza border over the weekend, with at least four landing in Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The Israeli military said no suspicious material was found on them and stressed that 'at no stage' was there any danger to the public.

Still, Israeli officials said they were concerned that the launches could be intended to test Israel's response, while the incidents also revived memories of earlier incendiary kite and balloon attacks.

From 2018, some Palestinians in Gaza launched kites and balloons carrying incendiary devices across the border, causing fires in Israeli agricultural areas. The current kites, however, were not found to contain incendiary or explosive material.

Gaza Parents Told to Stop Children Flying Kites

Inside Gaza, local popular committees that help run displacement camps and shelters warned parents on Monday to stop children from flying kites. A Hamas official told Reuters that the campaign was being coordinated with authorities in Gaza.

'We are working tirelessly on the ground and doing everything possible to stop this practice,' the committees said, adding that the aim was not to restrict children who had already lost 'the most basic rights to play and live in safety,' but to protect them.

One mother from Gaza City said she would no longer allow her 10-year-old son Ahmed to fly kites in the street.

'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.

Hamas Rejects Israeli Claims Over Kites

Hamas said the recent kites were children's toys rather than an organised campaign and accused Israel of using the issue as a 'pretext' to continue attacks in Gaza during the fragile ceasefire.

Israeli officials, meanwhile, suspect Hamas may be behind the launches and could be testing Israel's response, although the Israeli military has not publicly presented evidence establishing who launched the recovered kites.

Israel also raised the issue with US mediators involved in overseeing the 2025 Gaza ceasefire, according to Reuters.

The kite warning comes as strikes continue in Gaza. Palestinian health officials told Reuters that at least two people, including a four-year-old boy, were killed and seven others wounded in Israeli strikes in central Gaza on Sunday.

Israel said one of the strikes targeted a militant, while Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire.