CAIRO: ​The United Nations on Tuesday slammed Israel’s threat to expel people from areas where kites, drones and balloons are launched from in Gaza, lamenting “unacceptable rhetoric” coming from Israeli leaders.

“On the threat of expulsion due to children’s kite flying, I hope we can all agree that this is outrageous,” UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

Israel warned Hamas on Sunday that it would step up operations in Gaza if launches of kites, drones and balloons toward Israel continued, after a recent increase in such incidents. Hamas has denied responsibility.

Israeli media reported that four kites were found in communities near the Gaza border on Saturday and one was shot down by the army on Sunday, bringing the total number recovered in recent days to around 10.

The incidents have revived memories of waves of incendiary kites and balloons launched from Gaza in previous years, which sparked fires in agricultural lands in southern Israel.

According to the reports, the Israeli military believes Hamas was behind the launches, which did not carry explosives, and may have been testing how Israel would respond.

“Israel warns Hamas that if the launches toward Israel do not cease immediately, the IDF will take action to intensify targeted operations against those responsible... and will evacuate the population from areas from which kites, drones and balloons are launched,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday in a joint statement.

Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a statement that the kites were “launched from Gaza by children searching for their innocent childhood amid the rubble.”

In a separate statement, the Islamist group accused Israel of using the kites as a “pretext” for airstrikes in central Gaza on Sunday, in which three people were killed according to Gaza’s civil defense rescue service.

The UN spokeswoman highlighted that Sunday’s statement was only the latest in a string 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.

Popular committees issue kite warning to kids 

Gaza parents have been warned to stop their children flying kites in the war-ravaged enclave.

The popular committees, comprising representatives of local non-government 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 militant 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.

Kites scare Israeli villagers 

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 villages which came under attack ⁠in the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault that sparked the Gaza war.

On ‌Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas that unless ‌that 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 ‌that 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 ceasefire mediators that “Israel ⁠was making fake pretexts to continue the war on Gaza.”

Israel complained to US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, which oversees the implementation of the 2025 Gaza ceasefire 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 ceasefire; military action cannot extend beyond responding to genuine and imminent threats,” he added.

An October 2025 ceasefire halted major fighting but it didn’t end Israeli attacks.

On Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike killed one Palestinian in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, south of the enclave. The Israeli military said it had targeted a militant, without further information.

More than ​1,280 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza ​since the ceasefire took effect last October, according to Gazan health officials, while the Israeli military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed.