Trump's Gaza peace board warns Hamas against flying kites

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - JERUSALEM — The US-led board supervising a Gaza peace plan on Tuesday warned Hamas against flying kites, after Israel threatened to step up attacks if kites or balloons were launched from the war-ravaged enclave.

“All militant activity in Gaza must stop, including the flying of kites. We have conveyed this message directly through the established mechanism,” an official on President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” said on condition of anonymity.

“Israel, too, must comply with the ceasefire. Military action cannot extend beyond responding to genuine and imminent threats,” the official said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned Hamas that Israel would step up operations in Gaza if it launches kites, drones or balloons.

The threat came after a series of kites reportedly were found across the Gaza border in southern Israel.

The episode revived memories of incendiary kites and balloons once launched from Gaza. The latest kites are not known to have had any explosives, although Israeli media reported at least one with a political message.

Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim voiced outrage at the warning on kites conveyed via the Board of Peace.

“What audacity! Is it conceivable that attempts to appease the war criminal Netanyahu have led them to describe innocent children’s activities as armed activities, while Netanyahu continues to kill and destroy daily despite the agreement?“

The United Nations earlier Tuesday described the Israeli threats over the kites as unacceptable.

“On the threat of expulsion due to children’s kite flying, I hope we can all agree that this is outrageous,” UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

Following the Israeli threat, Gaza parents have been warned to ​stop their children flying kites in the war-ravaged enclave.

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 militant 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.

The Board of Peace was put in place by Trump to oversee a ceasefire declared in October in the bloody conflict in Gaza.

Since then, Israel has expanded slightly further into Gaza and kept up strikes, which have killed 1,288 Palestinians, according to health authorities under Hamas whose figures are generally considered reliable by the UN.

On Monday, Gaza authorities said Israeli fire killed at least five people including two children.

Netanyahu, facing tight elections in October, earlier this month rejected the latest stage in the Gaza peace plan after Hamas said it had agreed to disarm.

Netanyahu voiced skepticism over the promises and told Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner last week that a US general should be placed in charge of verifying the destruction of all Hamas’s weapons.

In response to Netanyahu, the Board of Peace backtracked and assured him that Israeli troops need not leave Gaza until a complete demilitarization of Hamas. Earlier, the board had called for Israel to start a phased withdrawal.