"It started like this and ended on October 7": The phenomenon that is once again worrying the Gaza Envelope

Almost three years since the October 7 massacre, the residents of the Gaza Envelope who returned to their homes are trying to rebuild the lives that were shattered. But in the last six months, and even more so in recent weeks, one sight from the past is returning again and again to the sky: dozens of kites arriving from the Gaza Strip, some with strings kilometers long, and landing in fields and sometimes right inside the communities. Among the residents, there is a growing, difficult feeling of frustration and fear that the lessons from the years preceding the massacre have not been internalized.

About 10 kites that were located by the security officers of the settlements in the fields and sometimes even inside the communities are just the tip of the iceberg. The kite phenomenon, which began last April and has intensified in recent weeks, is broader than the cases that have been exposed so far.

Already in June, nine kites were launched towards IDF forces in the Yellow Line area. In August alone, 12 kites and four balloons were documented, some towards the forces and some reached Israeli territory and communities. Even earlier, during April, kites were located in the Nahal Oz and Kissufim area.

Over the past weekend, the phenomenon escalated even further: four kites were located within 24 hours in the Nahal Oz and Be'eri area. The next day, another kite was located in the Black Arrow memorial area, adjacent to Kfar Aza, and on Monday two more were found - one right inside Nahal Oz, near the clinic, and another in an agricultural area in the Re'im area.

In the IDF, they said this week that they are not taking the events lightly, but military sources claimed that the situation today cannot be compared to the period preceding October 7. For the residents, this very sentence rings too familiar. "Our fear is not that we are being ignored personally, but that the security problem is being ignored," says Amit Caspi from Kerem Shalom.

He added: "We recognize the same pattern: kites, then balloons, drones, and every time they let the event pass as if it were an innocent event. This is exactly the issue that worries us, the feeling that we haven't learned anything."

Caspi stands in front of the fence in Kerem Shalom, just dozens of meters from the border, and for him the question is what will happen on the day when the security reality returns to what it was on the eve of the massacre. "If Hamas is again 50 meters from me, I won't be able to stand here and think that it's possible to sleep peacefully. Before October 7, we were naive. Today we don't have that illusion. If we return to the fence from before the massacre, even if there are 500 terrorists there and not 3,000, who guarantees us that it will be possible to stop them?"

Nisan De Calo, who served as deputy security officer of Nahal Oz in the days before and during October 7, remembers well how the kite and balloon terror phenomenon began in 2018. "I was there from the first kite to the explosive and incendiary balloons. We would run to put out the fires. It started with kites and ended on October 7, and it was a process of containment," he explains. "Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I don't expect a different result if we continue like this. We need to stop it now."

De Calo adds that for him, the fear is not only from the kites themselves but from the possibility that the State of Israel is returning to the same familiar policy. "My message is that the madness must be stopped. The reality that was here in 2018 cannot return. If we learned a lesson, why does it continue to look like this? I want there to be a different result, but for that, we also need to act differently." According to him, "if we return to the same reality, to the same containment and to the same response pattern, there is no reason to expect that the result will be different. We already know where this process can lead."

The concerns also merged this week with a protest near the border, in which dozens of residents and activists from across the political spectrum participated. The main call was one: not to allow foreign forces to determine the fate of the Gaza Envelope communities and not to entrust them with the responsibility for the residents' security as long as Hamas is not disarmed.

Dani Rahamim, spokesperson for Kibbutz Nahal Oz, who participated in the protest, shared: "What unites the residents of the Gaza Envelope is the demand that a foreign force will not protect us and will not determine our fate, and certainly not before Hamas is disarmed."

In Nahal Oz, the kites are not a theory. One of them landed this week near the clinic, others fell in the fields and in a nearby avocado orchard. At the same time, more than 80% of the kibbutz residents have already returned, and in the community, they estimate that by the end of the summer the return rate will approach 90%. "On one hand, there is a tremendous sense of uplift here," says Rahamim. "We are like a phoenix, rising from the ruins and the breakage and rebuilding a community. On the other hand, it is clear to us that without security, it is impossible to live here."

According to him, precisely because the residents chose to return, their level of trust has changed. "Before October 7, at the beginning of every round, I would remind everyone who was interviewed to say that we trust the IDF. That's how we really felt. Today I can no longer say that automatically. Back then we trusted the army that protects us, today we have an additional role - to check that it is actually protecting us. The IDF's responsibility is to prove to us again that it can be trusted."

Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi: "We must not let up on Hamas"

Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi toured the Gaza Strip today and visited one of the IDF posts on the Yellow Line, together with the commander of the Southern Command, Major General Yaniv Asor, the commander of the Gaza Division, Brigadier General Liron Betito, and the heads of the Gaza Envelope authorities. During the visit, Davidi thanked the soldiers and officers serving in the sector and said: "I am on a tour inside Gaza, at one of the IDF posts on the Yellow Line, which is so important to us and to the entire State of Israel. Thank you to all the soldiers and officers who are here."

Davidi called to continue applying continuous military pressure on Hamas: "The solution is to continue hitting Hamas and not let up. The Yellow Line is the line of departure for the attack. Drones and kites, attack terrorists, eliminate. This is the way and only in this way will we win. Even if we have to apply pressure through the prevention of food and civil sanctions, as the United States is doing in Iran successfully, we can also do this in Gaza."

Davidi added: "At the same time, we in Sderot will continue to grow and develop. In the last two weeks, we marketed 3,000 housing units. This is how we win, continuing to grow and win. I call from here to the Government of Israel to continue and pursue Hamas and Hezbollah until their end. Only in this way will we solve the problem."