Israeli aircraft shells ‘flaming kite’ flyers in Gaza

An Israeli aircraft shelled a farmland in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, where a group of Palestinians were trying to fly incendiary kites and balloons into Israel, the Israeli military said.

The army said in a statement its forces fired toward a Palestinian squad in the northern city of Beit Hanoun that launched arson balloons into Israeli territory.

No injuries were reported.

In recent weeks, Palestinian activists have been flying flaming kites and balloons over Israeli territory as part of ongoing anti-occupation protests along Gaza border.

Since March, more than 200 people have been martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli army fire during the protests against the decades-long Israeli occupation and a 12-year blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly 2 million inhabitants of basic commodities.