Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the recent launches of kites and drones from the Gaza Strip toward communities in the western Negev and Gaza border area today (Sunday), warning of the danger posed by the small aircraft. According to him, even a hobby drone can become a lethal weapon when armed and launched as part of a drone swarm. “You have a drone at home? It can be no less lethal if it comes in swarms,” Netanyahu said. “They arm it, it’s very accurate, hard to see.”
3+The prime minister noted that Israel has been working for several years on developing a response to the drone threat, which he defined as a global problem. According to him, the use of drones has been prominent in various combat zones in recent years, and now there’s an attempt to introduce the threat into the Gaza Strip as well. “We’ve been working on a solution to the drone problem for several years. We’re the most advanced in the world, but it’s a global problem,” Netanyahu said. “We saw it in Ukraine, we saw it in Lebanon, we saw it in Iran, and now they’re trying to renew it and bring it into Gaza.”
3+Against the backdrop of the threat, Netanyahu revealed the directive he passed to the security establishment and the IDF: to act against the drones themselves, against those operating them, and against the locations from which they’re launched. “My directive to the security establishment and the IDF is to do everything against this lethal tool—to strike it, to strike its operators, to strike the place from which it’s launched,” the prime minister clarified. “To do everything to protect our citizens, in the border area and everywhere else.”
3+Earlier, Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed Israeli forces to act with great force and immediately against the phenomenon of launching balloons, kites, and drones from the Gaza Strip. The minister’s directive comes against the backdrop of attempts by terror organizations in the Strip to renew aerial terror, as the security establishment views every such launch as an attempt to test the alertness of forces in the field and harm the security of residents. As part of the new directives, the security establishment ordered taking all necessary steps to eliminate the threat, including targeted elimination of Hamas leaders and the terrorists responsible for the launches, evacuation of neighborhoods and areas across the Strip from which the launches are carried out, and decisive offensive activity against terror infrastructure at the site.
3+The defense minister made clear that Israel will not tolerate any harm to the continuity of life for residents of the south, and emphasized that every launch will be considered a military action in every respect. Katz noted that a balloon is treated like a kite and a kite is treated like a drone, with or without explosives, and made unequivocally clear that Israeli forces will not allow a return to the reality that preceded October 7, and that anyone who launched, organized, or enabled the launches will be dealt with immediately and with full severity. The remarks came after reports arrived this morning of another kite detected in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, while border area residents are warning of long wires attached to the devices and cautioning about Hamas attempts to test flight paths similar to Hezbollah’s model.