The Palestinian unit flying incendiary kites and balloons over the Gaza-Israel border vowed Wednesday to continue its arson attacks regardless of the cease-fire reached between Gaza's rulers and Israel over the weekend.
Gaza-based terrorists fired 200 projectiles at Israel's border towns over on Saturday, triggering a forceful Israeli response. While an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire was achieved eventually, it did little to affect arson terrorism.
The Palestinian daily Al-Quds reported Wednesday that Hamas has informed Egyptian intelligence officials of its plans to gradually scale back the kite terrorism campaign that has been wreaking havoc on the Israeli side of the border since late April, so as to avoid further security escalation that could rapidly spiral into war.
While a senior Hamas official told the paper that this was a "strategic decision" and that the incendiary kites phenomenon was likely to cease by next week, members of the kite unit in Gaza defiantly announced that they "do not answer to anyone" but the Palestinian people.
Suggesting the unit may go rogue, its members released a statement saying, "The kite unit in Gaza is not a hierarchical body that receives orders. We do not answer to Hamas or to any other faction in the resistance. The kite unit answers only to the Palestinian people, and we will continue to fly kites and balloons as part of our nonviolent struggle until the siege of Gaza is removed."
Incendiary kites and balloon sparked 21 fires in Israeli communities near the border Wednesday.
"We feel like no one is giving us any answers and meanwhile, they [Palestinian terrorists] are burning down everything around us," said Maayan Shneur of Moshav Netiv Haasara, about half a mile from the border.
"We're conflicted. We know that on one hand, the government is trying to avoid wide-scale fighting, but on the other hand, there's no deterrence. They [Hamas] are dictating policy. There can be no cease-fire as long as kite terrorism continues," she said.
