Palestinian Islamists in the Gaza Strip vowed to continue to use incendiary kites and balloons as part of what they termed “the resistance against the Zionist entity.” Over the course of the last 24 hours, more than 20 fires were caused by incendiary kites, burning large swathes of territory next to Israeli communities, before fire-fighters were able to contain the flames. While Israeli Defense officials confirmed to TV7 that the IDF has indeed changed its policy in the Gaza Strip, in which it has received a green light to target Hamas installations in response to the use of incendiary kites – the officials noted that it was clear that a conflagration between Israel and Hamas was only a matter of time.
The warning of an imminent escalation in Gaza was also voiced by UN Secretary General António Guterres who said that the Gaza Strip was on the verge of war and had witnessed the most serious escalation since 2014. Guterres gave a report to the UN Security Council in which he condemned moves by both Israel and the Palestinian, attributing responsibility to both sides for what he termed “the dangerous situation.”