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Hamas to Stop Launching Paper Kites to Avoid War with Israel

Incendiary balloons are flown towards Israel during clashes along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, on July 13, 2018. (AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams)
Incendiary balloons are flown towards Israel during clashes along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, on July 13, 2018. (AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams)
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Hamas to Stop Launching Paper Kites to Avoid War with Israel

Incendiary balloons are flown towards Israel during clashes along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, on July 13, 2018. (AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams)
Incendiary balloons are flown towards Israel during clashes along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, on July 13, 2018. (AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams)

Hamas is trying to stop the firing of paper kites and balloons from the Gaza Strip towards nearby Israeli towns in order to spare the sector a possible war and further Israeli pressure. However, according to various reports, the decision would be difficult to implement as it would be seen as a response to an Israeli demand and against the will of the demonstrators near the border.

Palestinian and Israeli reports confirmed news published by Asharq Al-Awsat about a Hamas decision to gradually stop the launching of kites. However, a group of Palestinians, who have been launching incendiary kites and balloons toward Israel, denied the reports saying that they did not receive any orders from any Palestinian side to stop their activities.

Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said that amid pressure from Egypt and fear of an Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip, Hamas ordered its fighters on the ground to stop firing kites and balloons.

Israel gave Hamas few days to stop the incendiary kites. At the same time, maneuvers simulating the occupation of the Gaza Strip were launched and the Israeli siege was tightened, within plan to increase pressure on Hamas.

Channel 10 said that the Israeli political authorities had directed the military leadership to prepare for a large-scale military campaign in the Gaza Strip if the firing of incendiary balloons at the Israeli territory did not stop.

Reports said that Friday might be the deadline set by Israel for stopping the launching of balloons, or it would initiate a large-scale military campaign.

The channel added that Israel has sent many messages to Hamas, through the Egyptian intelligence, and Hamas responded also through the same apparatus.

The reports said that Hamas wanted in return the continued opening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, as well as easing the humanitarian situation in the sector.

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Libyan Court Jails 12 Officials over Deadly Floods

Abdul Salam Ibrahim Al-Qadi, 43 years old, walks on the rubble in front of his house, searching for his missing father and brother after the deadly floods in Derna, Libya, September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Abdul Salam Ibrahim Al-Qadi, 43 years old, walks on the rubble in front of his house, searching for his missing father and brother after the deadly floods in Derna, Libya, September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Libyan Court Jails 12 Officials over Deadly Floods

Abdul Salam Ibrahim Al-Qadi, 43 years old, walks on the rubble in front of his house, searching for his missing father and brother after the deadly floods in Derna, Libya, September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Abdul Salam Ibrahim Al-Qadi, 43 years old, walks on the rubble in front of his house, searching for his missing father and brother after the deadly floods in Derna, Libya, September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

A Libyan court has jailed 12 officials in connection with the collapse of a series of dams in Derna last year that killed thousands of the city's residents, the Attorney General said on Sunday.

The officials, who were responsible for managing the country's dams, were sentenced to between 9 and 27 years in prison by the Court of Appeal in Derna. Four officials were acquitted, according to Reuters.

Derna, a coastal city with a population of 125,000, was devastated last September by massive floods caused by Storm Daniel.

Thousands were killed and thousands more were missing as a result of the floods that burst dams, swept away buildings and destroyed entire neighbourhoods.

The Attorney General in Tripoli said three of the defendants were ordered to "return money obtained from illicit gains", according to a statement, which did not give the names or positions of those on trial.

"The convicted officials have been charged with negligence, premeditated murder and waste of public money," a judicial source in Derna told Reuters by phone, adding that they had the right to appeal against the verdicts.

A report in January by the World Bank, United Nations and European Union said deadly flash flooding in Derna constituted a climate and environmental catastrophe that required $1.8 billion to fund reconstruction and recovery.

The report said the dams' collapse was partly due to their design, based on outdated hydrological information, and partly a result of poor maintenance and governance problems during more than a decade of conflict in Libya.