The Hamas-led riots at the Israel-Gaza border that have occurred at least once a week since March have featured Palestinians launching fiery kites and balloons laced with explosives as a means to terrorize southern Israel. Now they have found a new weapon: condoms.
Yes, you read that correctly. No, it is not a joke.
On June 21, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shared part a Palestinian video on Twitter that a provided a how-to guide on how to create an explosive condom balloon:
Burning condoms. We wish we were joking. pic.twitter.com/AhQ0O2BSgY
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 21, 2018
Even though it’s incredibly juvenile, it’s no laughing matter.
According to a June 20 Times of Israel (TOI) report, the use of kites, balloons and condoms as weapons are “dead simple and dirt cheap methods” to cause terror, citing one instance where an explosive balloon emblazoned “I <3 YOU” landed on Israeli highway, forcing that section of the highway to be shut down until the police were able to conduct a controlled detonation of the balloon.
Another instance involved a group of balloons that had an explosive on them landing onto a trampoline in an Eshkol backyard.
Meirav Vidal, who lives in the home where this occurred, told TOI, “Balloons on a trampoline in the backyard — that’s a decorative play area and beckons the most innocent ones, and yet our children have lost their innocence because of this phenomenon.”
In the case of the kites, Israeli farmers have been particularly burdened by them since their fields have been wiped out by the fiery kites.
Israel has responded to these actions of terrors by firing warning shots at the encampments launching them as well as launching strikes against Hamas.
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