Children flying kites over war-ravaged Gaza have become the focus of a new Israeli warning of forced displacement, drawing sharp condemnation Tuesday from the U.N. Human Rights Office as fears grow over collective punishment of Palestinian civilians.
"On the threat of expulsion due to children's kite flying, I hope we can all agree that this is outrageous," rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said at a weekly press briefing.
Shamdasani said the Israeli warning was only the latest in a series of threats.
"We continue to see unacceptable rhetoric coming from the highest level of the Israeli authorities, showing utter contempt for international human rights and humanitarian law, and advocating and inciting violence amounting to atrocity crimes," she said.
Shamdasani also addressed the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, saying Palestinians continued to face Israeli violations despite a cease-fire that ostensibly went into effect last October.
"Despite the so-called ceasefire, Palestinians are being bombed, shot at, and killed every day in Gaza," she said.
"The violations, suffering and misery being inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza cannot be ignored," she added.
Shamdasani went on to urge third countries to push for the full implementation of the ceasefire, an end to all truce violations, accountability, and justice.
Israel issued an outrageous warning, telling Gaza parents to stop their children flying kites in the war-ravaged enclave.
The popular committees, comprising representatives of local non-governmental organizations and charities that run Gaza displacement camps and shelters, issued the warning in a statement late on Monday.
The announcement was coordinated with Hamas authorities, a source in the Palestinian resistance group said.
"We are working tirelessly on the ground and doing everything possible to stop this practice, not to restrict the childhood of our children, who have already been deprived of the most basic rights to play and live in safety, but to protect their innocent lives," the statement said.
In the past month, several kites that were not reported to be carrying incendiary materials were spotted drifting from Gaza into Israel, alarming Israelis who live in the nearby occupied villages.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas that unless it stopped immediately, "those responsible" for launching kites, balloons or drones toward Israel would be targets of assassination and that areas from which they are sent will be ordered to evacuate.
Umm Mohammed, a mother from Gaza City who spoke with Reuters over a chat app, said she was worried her son could be hurt.
"Every summer, my kid, Ahmed, 10, and the kids in the street fly those kites to entertain themselves, but I will not allow him to, not anymore," she said.
A senior Israeli defense official said Hamas was trying to provoke Israel by encouraging Gazans to fly kites across the border.
A Hamas official told Reuters the group has complained to cease-fire mediators that "Israel was making fake pretexts to continue the war on Gaza."
Israel complained to U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, which oversees the implementation of the 2025 Gaza cease-fire deal, about the kites, according to a second Israeli official.
"All militant activity in Gaza must stop, including the flying of kites. We have conveyed this message directly through the established mechanism," an official of the Board of Peace told Reuters.
"Israel, too, must comply with the cease-fire; military action cannot extend beyond responding to genuine and imminent threats," he added.
An October 2025 cease-fire halted major fighting, but it didn't end Israeli attacks.
An Israeli airstrike killed one Palestinian on Tuesday in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave.
Later, another Israeli airstrike killed at least three people in the vicinity of a school housing displaced families in Jabalia in northern Gaza, medics said. The Israeli military didn't immediately comment.
More than 1,280 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the cease-fire took effect last October, according to Gazan health officials, while the Israeli military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed.
