Herzog says Israel can’t play down border residents’ jitters amid return of Gaza kites

President Isaac Herzog on Monday said that Israel cannot underestimate the concerns of Gaza border community residents after the launching of kites from the Strip over the weekend, while visiting one of the kibbutzim ravaged by the October 7, 2023, massacre.

Herzog told residents that he understood how any kite seen in the sky could spark feelings of unease among the communities, while speaking at the ribbon-cutting of an AI center on Kibbutz Nir Oz.

“After October 7, the State of Israel cannot underestimate any sign or any concern from border residents, but it also can’t allow any kite to return the Gaza Strip to October 6. The State of Israel is here, watching, alert, and defending,” he said.

“I also told Jared Kushner last week that I thank them for their efforts, but let it be clear, the security of border residents must stand at the heart of any arrangement on the future of Gaza,” he said, noting the visit of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy to the region last week, which ended without a breakthrough in talks on disarming Hamas and moving toward the second and reconstruction-focused phase of Trump’s Gaza peace plan.

“Nir Oz residents no longer need to stand in front of the border and ask themselves the meaning of everything that flies in the sky. This is the responsibility of the state. To see, to know, to prevent, and to defend,” Herzog said. “It is also the responsibility of the international community, the member countries of the Board of Peace, to internalize and understand this principle.”

At least four kites were flown from Gaza to Kibbutz Nahal Oz over the weekend. The army said nothing suspicious was found on the kites and there was no danger to the public, but many have associated the objects with the kites and balloons carrying incendiary devices that were launched by Gazan terror groups and plagued southern Israel for a number of years in the run up to October 7, 2023.

In a statement Sunday evening, Hamas claimed the kites were merely “children’s toys” from Gaza refugee camps and warned Israel not to follow through on its threats.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Monday he and Netanyahu “instructed the IDF to adopt a policy of zero tolerance and zero containment toward the launching of kites and balloons from Gaza toward communities in the Negev,” repeating previous declarations over the past few days in response to the kites.

“A balloon and a kite shall be treated the same as a drone — with or without explosives,” he said.

“I am not Yoav Gallant, and I will not allow the policy of October 6 to repeat itself, neither from the air nor in approaches to the border,” he said in a swipe at his predecessor. Many of Katz’s statements in recent weeks have appeared to be messages to the voting public ahead of the election in October.

Airstrikes target three Hamas terrorists who took part in Oct. 7

Meanwhile, the IDF said on Monday that airstrikes over the past day targeted three Hamas terrorists who took part in the October 7 onslaught.

In the strike overnight, two of the Hamas operatives who took part in the massacre were targeted.

According to the military, the strike in Deir al-Balah killed Mohammad Abd al-Nasser Jabr Abu Asaad, a member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force, who invaded Israel on October 7.

The second terrorist, who also invaded Israel during the onslaught, apparently survived the strike.

The IDF justified the strike amid the ceasefire by saying that both terrorists had advanced attacks on troops and civilians, as well as tried to restore Hamas capabilities, “systematically violating the ceasefire.”

“The strike was conducted in order to remove the threat,” the military added.

A strike on Sunday in Khan Younis targeted a company commander in Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force, according to the IDF. He was not named, and his condition is unclear.

Palestinian media reported that the strike wounded several people.

In addition to invading Israel on October 7, the IDF said that the Hamas terrorist has advanced attacks on troops in the Strip.

“The terrorist’s activities posed an immediate threat to our forces,” the military said, employing the claim used to justify strikes despite the ceasefire.

Amid the ongoing strikes, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir met on Sunday with special forces of the Israeli Air Force, thanking them for “unprecedented” operations that must be kept under wraps, the military said.

“In recent years, you have brought new capabilities to the battlefield. The operations you have carried out are unprecedented and require courage, imagination and capabilities, and we will not be able to speak publicly about most of them,” he told troops at the Palmachim airbase, according to remarks published today by the IDF.

Zamir said the IDF remains “vigilant and prepared across all sectors, both defensively and offensively.”

Agencies contributed to this report.