Israeli spy drone crashes in Gaza, reportedly after it was shot down
IDF refuses to say whether Skylark reconnaissance UAV was attacked or suffered malfunction
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJudah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
A military reconnaissance drone crashed in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, reportedly after it was shot down by a Palestinian terror group in the coastal enclave.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that the small unmanned aerial vehicle, known as a Skylark, had crashed in the Gaza Strip, but refused to comment on what caused the aircraft to go down.
Palestinian media outlets reported that the drone was shot down by a terror group.
The army said, as it commonly has after similar past incidents, that there was no risk of sensitive information on the drone being compromised, since it transmits the footage it captures without storing it.
Skylark drones — small UAVs launched and operated by a team of two soldiers — crash with relative frequency, owing to their size and simple design.
In October, one such drone crashed just outside the Gaza Strip due to a technical malfunction.
The “Sky Rider,” as it is known in Hebrew, is a tactical surveillance drone created by Israel’s Elbit Systems and operated by the Artillery Corps. The miniature UAV provides a live video feed to soldiers on the ground.
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