Drones Give Militants New Precision Weapon In Gaza Conflict

The drone attack against an IDF humvee by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad over the weekend was a dangerous escalation by the Gazan terror group. But it wasn’t the first time.

In May PIJ used a drone to drop a mortar shell on an IDF tank stationed on the border. The attack, during a violent flareup between Israel and terror groups in the Hamas-run enclave, was filmed by the group and later released on social media.

In the video, small explosions can be seen on and next to the tank, with Arabic captions reading “your defenses are nothing to us.”

A few days before the drone attack against the tank in late May, a drone armed with explosives launched from the northern part of the Gaza Strip landed in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council.

While nobody was hurt in any of the attacks, the attack over the weekend was a warning to the IDF: terror groups in the blockaded coastal enclave are continuing to innovate and find new weapons to attack Israel’s military.

Beginning in late March of last year during the Great Return Marches, Hamas began using kites, balloons and condoms to burn Israeli land. It was a cheap but effective tool that Israel had trouble containing.

Close to a year and a half later, incendiary balloons are still being flown into Israel. Frustrating the military and first responders who rush to the scene to put out the flames.

Now drones are the new “it.”

This weekend’s attack is a wake up call that Israel has to take seriously, because like rockets, drones pose threats not only to troops but the thousands of residents who live in communities along the border.

This time, an IDF humvee was lightly damaged by an improvised explosive device dropped by the drone. And the IDF hit back hard, first shelling the cell which launched the drone and then striking Hamas targets across the northern and central Gaza Strip for close to an hour. 

In comparison: Five rockets were launched towards southern Israel communities the night before, leading Israel to strike several Hamas targets.

The military understands the threat, and it understands that a rocket attack on southern Israel communities is an indiscriminate attack on civilians while the drone attacked a military target. While there were no injuries or casualties in either events, both need to be met with an iron fist.

Hamas and other terror groups in the Strip have for years been working to improve their drone capabilities, both by smuggling in civilian drones and by manufacturing them locally. Israel, for it’s part has worked to thwart Hamas from increasing their drone arsenal, stopping them at border crossings and, according to foreign reports, eliminating Hamas operatives involved in their drone program.

In February 2017, a Hamas drone that was making its way toward Israel from the Gaza Strip fell into the sea after being shot down by an Israeli F-16. The previous year, Hamas’s chief drone expert and engineer, Muhammad Zouari, was gunned down in his car near his homein the Tunisian city of Sfax in an operation blamed on the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency.

In 2012, during Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, the IDF said it struck Hamas facilities that were being used to develop drones capable of carrying explosives. Then-GOC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Tal Russo said at the time that the IDF destroyed “advanced weaponry like the development of a UAV that isn’t used for photography but for attacks deep inside Israel.”

The IDF has been dealing with this phenomenon for years, and with the increase of small easily operable drones that can be bought cheaply online from anywhere in the world, the threat is only increasing.

And while they are cheap, they are difficult to spot and intercept even for skilled sharpshooters, making them the perfect weapon for terrorists. 

Dozens of civilian companies have been working to provide solutions to intercept drones and the Israeli air force is said to be testing several different technologies to intercept or hack drones with the aim to integrate them in the coming months.

But in the meantime the men and women on the ground who are the first at the scene, even before the military, are getting frustrated. Just like the incendiary kites and balloons which they wreaked havoc on Israel’s south, the threat of drones needs to be dealt with. 

Before one of them hits its mark, killing IDF troops or Israeli civilians, and drags Israel into another war with the Gaza Strip.