Santiago Hosts '1,000 Kites for Palestine' Solidarity Event

Hundreds of people gathered in Santiago on Saturday for an event titled "1,000 Kites for Palestine," flying traditional Chilean kites as a gesture of solidarity with children in Gaza.

Many of the kites carried the colours of the Palestinian flag, while other participants made and decorated their own on site. Organisers said the initiative was intended to express support for Palestinian children and to defend their right to play.

Speaking at the event, participant Eduardo Asfura said those present had come to fill the sky with kites, describing the activity as a response to a prohibition he attributed to the Israeli government. He said the ban on flying kites had been imposed on the children of Gaza under threat of death, adding that the Israeli military had treated kites as weapons of war.

Another participant, Jordan Sandoval, called kite flying a historic tradition and said the Israeli measure against it amounted to a cultural genocide. He said the gathering in Chile, which he described as the farthest corner of the world, was meant to send a message of strength to Palestinians.

The event follows a warning issued just over a month ago by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz, who threatened to intensify strikes on Gaza unless Hamas ensured that drones, balloons and kites stopped flying toward Israel. The warning came after several kites were found in a kibbutz near Gaza, although no weapons or dangerous materials were attached to them.

Kites, balloons and drones, once common sights in Gaza's skies, have largely disappeared following the Israeli warning.