Israeli farmers whose lands have been devastated by fires caused by Palestinian incendiary kites and balloons announced Sunday that they plan to seek International Criminal Court action against Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.
The Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, which is representing the farmers, issued a press release saying the Hamas leaders are guilty of crimes under the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, including agricultural terrorism, using children in combat, and using the Gaza Strip's civilian population as human shields.
Authorities say that over the past month 300 incendiary kites and balloons have been sent over the Israel-Gaza Strip border, sparking over 100 fires in Israeli communities near the border, reducing thousands of acres of farmland to ash and causing damage amounting to tens of millions of shekels.
Local farmers say the environmental damage caused by the fires is massive and it is only a matter of time before a fire claims lives.
The press release says the planned lawsuit comes in response to the Palestinian Authority's stated intention to pursue ICC actions against Israel over its handling of the recent border riots.
The farmers are seeking 100,000 signatures for their petition to The Hague. Since launching it Sunday, they have acquired 10,000 signatories.
According to the Jewish Press, if successful, the ICC lawsuit will be the first civilian response to Hamas' kite terrorism.
"Join the lawsuit against Hamas in The Hague," the farmers' petition reads.
"Hamas has organized riots along the Gaza border and urges its population to infiltrate Israel. They have called on the Palestinian public to attack Israelis in their homes and threatened to kidnap and murder as many [Israelis] as possible.
"Youths in Gaza are being encouraged to carry out cross-border arson attacks against Israeli farmers using incendiary kites. This twisted strategy centers on causing civilian casualties and generating the condemnation of Israel. Hamas' actions violate international law and constitute war crimes."
Shurat HaDin Director Nitzana Darshan-Leitner issued a statement saying, "Israel will not remain silent. The current security situation, in which fields and forests in Israel are burned every day by members of a terrorist organization, is inconceivable.
"It cannot be that senior Hamas officials accuse Israel of war crimes while using the civilian population, especially children, as human shields for their terrorist activities. Therefore, we call on the International Criminal Court in The Hague to exact justice upon them."
Rafi Babian of Sdot Negev Regional Council told Israel Hayom that he signed the petition "because I think we need to act."
"Not giving them [the Palestinians] any humanitarian help is not realistic, but if the world fails to understand the situation and we are the 'bad guys,' we have no choice. We have to speak their language and show the massive damage they cause us. Our cry will reach The Hague. If they [the Palestinians] think that they can break us with a few kites and economic damage, they are wrong," he said.
Ofer Lieberman of Kibbutz Nir Am told Israel Hayom, "If the Palestinians want to fight us in The Hague on war crimes, then it's time they know that what they're doing are war crimes. When they send children to the [border] fence, that's a war crime. When they send kites and balloons to torch our fields and forests, that's a war crime. The world should know what they are doing when they come to demonstrate near the fence. They want to try to kill us and drive us off this land."
