ANDY LINES

on Israel/Gaza border FLOATING in the clear blue sky, the kite seems out of place amid the violence of the Gaza-Israel border.

But it is fitted with a firebomb – and this is one of the latest low-tech weapons being used by Palestinian militants in angry demonstrations that have raged on for six weeks.

Protesters have also used tennis rackets to hit back tear gas canisters fired by Israeli forces as tensions increase.

I saw first-hand how much damage can be caused by the extraordinary bomber kites.

Here on the border yesterday, we watched as firefighters rushed to extinguish one blaze after another.

At one point, I counted five separate fires on the horizon. We reached one near Kissufim, a community in the Negev desert near the Gaza Strip, before overworked fire crews even arrived.

The kite landed in shrubland, setting several trees alight. It spread rapidly and, when firefighters arrived, it took them 30 minutes to put out the flames with the help of the army.

Barely a mile away, another kite landed near the home of Rena Viloga, 17, on a kibbutz.

She said: “The kite landed 30 metres from my house. I heard a thud as it hit the ground and then watched as it burst into flames.

“It happens quite regularly here. I’m used to it now. As well as the rockets they have always used, they are using these kites now.”

The Israeli army used a drone to down a least one kite. Israeli officials said more than 60,000 acres and several buildings have been burnt since the new tactics began.

There are huge patches of incinerated land across the whole area.

No one can tell how many kite attacks have