For years Israel spared no effort to end rocket smuggling into the besieged Gaza Strip, while creating a sophisticated anti-missile system to intercept those that ended up in Hamas's hands.

But its formidable army is scrambling for a response to new Palestinian weapons that cost pennies to make: flaming kites and helium inflated condoms sent over the fortified border to torch Israeli farmlands.

Israel calls them "terror kites." Hundreds have been launched in recent months, burning thousands of acres of farmland.

The "kite war” now threatens to start a real war neither side wants. Gaza Palestinians have always been fond of kites.

A few years ago they set a record by flying more than 13,000 of them simultaneously.

There is perhaps something aspirational about the aerial toys for a people that controls neither its sea, air, nor border crossings.

Using them as flame delivery systems, however, was a byproduct of protests since March at Gaza's border in which Israeli troops killed dozens of Palestinians as some tried to breach the fence.