Report: 9 kites launched from Gaza at IDF troops in June without Israeli response

Nine kites were launched from the Gaza Strip toward IDF troops in June, but the incidents were neither publicly reported nor met with an Israeli response, Channel 12 reports.

The IDF reportedly assesses that Hamas was behind the launches, rejecting suggestions that they were carried out independently or by children.

According to Channel 12, the security establishment believes Hamas is using the launches to provoke an Israeli response and trigger a deliberate escalation, for which it would then blame Israel, amid US efforts to advance reconstruction in Gaza following the October ceasefire.

The report comes as kites have been launched from Gaza toward Israeli border communities in recent days, most recently today, when one landed in Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

A total of 12 kites and four balloons have reportedly crossed from Gaza in August as of today.

So far, none of the kites launched from Gaza in recent days have carried any suspicious items on them. But many have associated the objects with the kites and balloons carrying incendiary devices that were launched by Gaza terror groups for a number of years in the run-up to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught, in which terrorists on hand gliders crossed the border.