LONDON: For generations, spring and summer along Gaza’s coast meant homemade kites — brightly colored creations sometimes tied to rooftops so the wind would not carry them away. Today, however, Israel regards the toys as a potential security threat.
“It was one of the most ordinary joys of childhood,” Maysa Yousef, an artist and mother of three in central Gaza, told Arab News as she recalled a tradition shared by families across the Palestinian enclave’s refugee camps.
Her children, however, have had little opportunity to experience it. For much of their lives, said Yousef, kites have been largely barred from Gaza. And since the war began in October 2023 after a Hamas-led attack on Israel, even basic materials used to make them such as glue and paper have been restricted in the territory.
The issue gained fresh urgency after several kites drifted from Gaza into southern Israel over the weekend, prompting Defense Minister Israel Katz to convene senior military officials on Sunday, according to Israeli media reports.
A Palestinian boy stands holding his kite as others look at the remains of a car destroyed in an Israeli strike, which reportedly killed two police officers, in Khan Younis on May 10, 2026. (AFP)
