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A Palestinian protester prepares a kite with an incendiary device for Israel, near the Israeli-Palestinian Gaza border on May 4, 2018. MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
A new file related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is expected to arrive at the prosecutor's office of the International Criminal Court this Wednesday, September 5. This time, Israeli farmers are filing complaints against Hamas, accusing it of orchestrating the dispatch of the incendiary kites that have burned more than 3,000 hectares along the border with the Gaza Strip. during the "Marches du retour". The plaintiffs see it as a crime against humanity.
With our correspondent in Jerusalem, Guilhem Delteil
The phenomenon has emerged in the wake of demonstrations in the Gaza Strip since the end of March. Kites , balloons and even condoms inflated with helium, to which were attached burning fabrics or small Molotov cocktails, were sent from the Palestinian enclave to Israeli territory.
If the fires did not kill, Ofer Lieberman is a crime against humanity. " When they send the balloons attached to small bombs, they do not know where they are going to land ," he says. This can fall on a small child. This can burn wheat fields or forests and families can be in these forests. So I think - I'm sure - it's a crime against humanity. Because they use this weapon to kill us. If they try to kill civilians, only civilians, I'm sure it's a crime against humanity. "
The complaint, signed by 50,000 people, specifically targets the leaders of Hamas , the Islamist movement in power in the Gaza Strip. The complainants accuse them of orchestrating the sending of these flying objects.
And Ofer Lieberman hopes the court will hear their complaint. " The Palestinians have lodged a complaint against us in this court. So for us, it's very important to show this court and the world what they do in our region. So if this court wants to handle Palestinian complaints, it must also deal with our complaints. "
Ofer Lieberman plans to launch a court battle as Palestinian leaders call for an ICC investigation into the use of force by the Israeli army since the beginning of the " March of Return " in late March: 172 Palestinians were killed in five month.