Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to respond \u201cimmediately and with force\u201d to any balloons, kites, or drones launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israeli communities in the western Negev.<\/p>\n
Under Katz\u2019s directive, the IDF is to take all necessary measures to prevent such launches from becoming a recurring phenomenon. This includes targeting Hamas leaders involved in organizing the launches, as well as the individuals operating the devices.<\/p>\n
Israel acknowledges firing on car carrying 5-year-old in Gaza <\/p>\n
Katz also instructed the IDF to prepare for the evacuation of neighborhoods or areas from which the devices are launched and to take action against the infrastructure used to facilitate the launches.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe consider every launch an act of war in every respect, and we are committed to ensuring the absolute defense of Israeli communities,\u201d Katz said.<\/p>\n
The defense minister stressed that Israel would make no distinction between the different types of devices used.<\/p>\n
\u201cA balloon is treated like a kite, and a kite like a drone, whether or not it is carrying explosives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The directive follows the recent discovery of several kites believed to have been launched from Gaza and found near the Nahal Oz area. The incident raised concerns among local residents, who recalled the incendiary kites and balloons launched from Gaza in the years preceding the October 7 massacre.<\/p>\n
Katz said the objective of the new directive is to prevent the return of such activity along the Gaza border.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not allow a return to the reality that existed before October 7,\u201d Katz said. \u201cAnyone who organizes, launches, or permits these launches will be dealt with immediately and with the utmost severity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to respond \u201cimmediately and with force\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-593524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}