Israel treats Gaza kites as security threat as strikes kill four-year-old Palestinian boy

Israel has warned that kites flown from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli communities will be treated as a security threat, threatening to intensify strikes against those responsible and evacuate Palestinians from areas where the objects are launched.

The warning came on Sunday, 23 August 2026, as Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least three Palestinians, including four-year-old Mohammad Abdel-Salam Taha, according to Palestinian reports. Several others were wounded.

The Israeli military has acknowledged that four kites recovered near the Israeli community of Nahal Oz contained no suspicious material and posed no danger to the public.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz nevertheless warned that Israel would take further military action if what they described as launches of kites, balloons and drones from Gaza continued.

The development has placed children's kites at the centre of a new dispute over the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, with Hamas saying the objects are simply toys used by children in displacement camps.

Four-year-old killed in az-Zawayda strike

One of Sunday's Israeli strikes hit a building in az-Zawayda in central Gaza after the Israeli military warned people connected to the property to leave, residents said.

Reuters reported that flying debris and shrapnel spread dozens of metres around the site, wounding at least six people. The four-year-old boy, Mohammad Abdel-Salam Taha, was among those injured and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, medics said.

The strike reduced the building to what witness Abu Ahmed described as a pile of mangled steel and concrete.

“There is no ceasefire; there is nothing,” Abu Ahmed, a displaced Palestinian sheltering near the building, told Reuters. “We want solutions; we want to live in peace.”

The Times of Israel reported that the Israeli Air Force had targeted what the military described as a weapons manufacturing site near an aid distribution point operated by an international organisation.

The IDF said the strike was another example of what it described as Hamas's “systematic use of and embedding within civilian infrastructure” to carry out attacks against Israeli troops and civilians.

Israel links kites to wider drone threat

The Israeli warnings followed reports that at least four kites had travelled from Gaza towards Kibbutz Nahal Oz over the weekend.

The Israeli army said one kite was found on Friday and three more the following morning. After examining them, the military said “no suspicious materials were found” and that they “posed no danger to the public”.

The military also said there had been no danger to the public at any stage.

Despite those findings, Netanyahu linked the incidents to Israel's broader concerns over drones.

“We have been working for several years on a solution to the drone threat. We are the most advanced in the world, but this is a global problem,” Netanyahu said in a video message, referring to the use of drones in Ukraine and Lebanon.

“My directive to the defense establishment and the IDF is to do everything against this lethal weapon — to strike it, to strike those operating it, to strike the place from which it was launched, to do everything in order to protect our citizens in the Gaza border communities and everywhere else,” he said, according to The Times of Israel.

The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu appeared to be drawing a connection between the recent kite launches and the wider threat posed by armed drones.

According to Hebrew media reports cited by The Times of Israel, the IDF believes Hamas was responsible for launching the kites and may have been testing whether and how Israel would respond.

Hamas says children are flying the kites

Hamas has rejected Israel's characterisation of the kite launches, saying the objects are children's toys flown in displacement camps.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the Israeli threats were “based on fabricated pretexts” and were intended to justify continued attacks and violations against Palestinians.

He called on the United States and mediating and guarantor countries to pressure Israel to stop what he described as unchecked aggression and the undermining of the ceasefire framework.

Anadolu Agency reported that children commonly fly lightweight kites for recreation, particularly in displacement camps, as they seek moments of relief amid the harsh conditions in the enclave.

The kites are controlled from the ground by strings. When a string breaks, wind currents can carry them beyond Gaza, where Israeli communities are located only a few kilometres away.

Qassem said the kites were “children's toys” used in displacement camps.

More Palestinians killed in separate strikes

Sunday's violence extended beyond az-Zawayda.

Palestinian media reported that an Israeli strike near the Maghazi refugee camp killed one person and wounded several others. The Times of Israel reported that the IDF identified the person killed as Ismail Abu Ful, whom it described as the commander of an arms production site.

The military said Abu Ful had been involved in manufacturing explosive devices and anti-tank rockets for Hamas and was “eliminated to remove the threat”.

The Palestinian Wafa news agency also reported Israeli strikes on two areas along Salah al-Din Street in central Gaza, saying two people were killed.

Al Jazeera reported that Israeli quadcopters fired on al-Shujaiyya, east of Gaza City, wounding several people, including 33-year-old journalist Ezz el-Din al-Batsh.

Israeli drone attacks in southern Khan Younis wounded at least 10 people, according to Al Jazeera.

Reuters reported two Israeli airstrikes on Sunday and said health officials reported casualties from the attacks. The Israeli military said it was looking into the strikes.

Netanyahu and Katz threaten to evacuate areas of Gaza

Following a security assessment with Israeli military chief Lt Gen Eyal Zamir and other senior military and defence officials, Netanyahu and Katz issued a joint warning.

“Israel warns Hamas that if the launches toward Israel do not stop immediately, the IDF will act to intensify strikes against those responsible for the launches and evacuate populations from areas from which kites, drones and balloons are launched,” they said.

Katz had earlier ordered the military to act “immediately and forcefully” against kites and balloons coming from Gaza.

“A balloon is like a kite, and a kite is like a drone, whether it carries explosives or not,” Katz said, according to Anadolu Agency.

The threats have raised concern among Palestinians that the kite incidents could be used to justify wider Israeli military action.

Ceasefire remains under pressure

The confrontation over the kites comes amid diplomatic efforts to preserve a ceasefire and secure Israeli troop withdrawals and the disarmament of Hamas.

Palestinian officials and Hamas have accused Israel of undermining the ceasefire, while Israel has accused Hamas of violating the agreement and attempting to rebuild its military capabilities.

According to Palestine Health Ministry data cited by Anadolu Agency, Israeli forces have carried out daily violations of a ceasefire in place since 10 October 2025, killing 1,286 Palestinians and wounding 4,257.

The Gaza Health Ministry has also said that at least 1,286 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across the territory since the ceasefire agreement took effect in October.

Since Israel launched its war in Gaza in October 2023, more than 73,400 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Anadolu Agency reported more than 174,000 wounded and said about 90% of the enclave's civilian infrastructure had been devastated.