The Sons of Zouari () are a militant group in

Gaza Gaza may refer to: Places Palestine * Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea ** Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip ** Gaza Governorate, a governorate in the Gaza Strip Mandatory Palestine * Gaza Sub ...

, responsible for launching incendiary kites and balloons into Israel causing damage to fields and land, during the

2018 Gaza border protests Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number) * One of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short story ''God's Dice'' * ''Eighteen'' (film), a 2 ...

. The group's incendiary balloons are usually attached with Molotov cocktails, grenades, and other flammable materials, and inflated with helium. The wind from the Mediterranean sea allows the kites and balloons to float into Israeli territory and cause damage to farmland, forests, and wildlife. The group is named after Hamas’s chief drone expert and engineer Mohamed Zouari, inspired by his method of "invasion by air" as he supervised an unmanned aircraft during the

2014 Gaza War The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge (, ), and Battle of the Withered Grain (), was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that has been governed by Hamas since ...

. In June 2018, the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

targeted the car of one of the group's leaders, though the car was empty at the time. The group targets both houses and land. Damage by kites has caused damage to thousands of acres of Israeli farmland near Gaza during the 2018 Gaza border protests.

Motivations

In an interview with one of the members of the group, when asked about the motivations behind the attacks on the fields the member said "We, as Palestinians, do not recognize these fields as belonging to the enemy. These are our lands, and the fields planted on them are not theirs by right. These are our lands, and we have the right to them. We say to them: We will not let you sow our lands and enjoy them. We will burn your fields, which you harvest to pay for the bullets that you use to shoot children and peaceful unarmed demonstrators."

Citations

{{Israeli–Palestinian conflict Gaza Strip Palestinian militant groups