There has been a recent uptick in drone usage by Hamas within Gaza, the military said on Thursday after an IDF soldier was moderately wounded and another lightly wounded in the northern Gaza Strip in a drone attack.
A Hamas terrorist cell operated a drone over IDF forces in the area and dropped a grenade on a unit positioned near buildings. The soldiers were evacuated to the hospital, and their families were notified.
Reservist soldiers reported the rise in drone threats in recent weeks, with Hamas using drones to gather intelligence on IDF movements and to carry out attacks.
“The working assumption is that they are gathering intelligence on us 24/7 using remote observation posts, binoculars, and drones,” a reservist soldier serving in the area said.
“We report whenever we see drones in the area. We try to determine whether they are ours or belong to Hamas. This is a scenario that happened at the beginning of the war, disappeared for a while, and has now returned. There are ways to deal with it, but it’s concerning. We were told they managed to smuggle drones during the ceasefire, when 600 trucks a day were coming in. It might also have happened via aerial smuggling. If they can smuggle cellphones, drugs, and cigarettes, why not drones?”
A reservist officer in the sector was also critical, saying, “Hamas is back to using drones. That means they feel comfortable enough to do so amid operations. They’re not under constant military pressure. That’s not a positive sign. We were brought in to achieve a decisive outcome. Right now, it doesn’t feel like that. We’re waiting for the big mission.”
IDF drone use also under scrutiny
Reservist soldiers also criticized the IDF’s drone operations, saying they sometimes rely on independent solutions to operate drones in their sector, with some drones funded through donations.
However, IDF sources said the Defense Ministry and the Ground Forces Command had launched an accelerated procurement program to acquire various types of drones for different missions, but that the process takes time.
They noted an international competition for drone procurement and production lines, especially amid the global arms race.
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