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Small drone from Gaza falls in Israeli territory
IDF says UAV taken for further examination; no initial claim of responsibility
A drone flying from the Gaza Strip fell in Israel on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The army said that the drone, which it described as a multicopter, was “infiltrating” Israeli airspace.
The drone was picked up by the army and taken for further examination, the IDF said.
It was not immediately clear who sent the drone and for what purpose, or how it fell. The Hamas terror group has in the past said that it possesses unmanned aerial vehicles.
Israel has intercepted a number of drones dispatched from Gaza. In February, an Israeli Air Force fighter jet shot down a Hamas drone flying from Gaza toward the Mediterranean Sea.
A similar incident also occurred last September. In that case as well, IAF jets were scrambled to shoot down a Hamas-launched drone off the Gaza coast.
In addition, a UAV was sent from Gaza in June 2015, and a handful were launched during the Hamas-Israel war in 2014.
The Defense Ministry has prevented a number of attempts to smuggle small, commercial drones into the Gaza Strip.
In May 2016, a shipment of packages sent through the Israeli postal service was intercepted en route to the Gaza Strip, containing disassembled drones, rifle scopes, radio receivers, cellphone signal boosters and video transmitters, a statement from the Defense Ministry said.
In February, the ministry’s Border Crossing Authority foiled an attempt to smuggle several drones, of different sizes and types, into the coastal enclave.
The drones, all of which were equipped with quality cameras, were apparently set to be used for spying on Israeli targets, the Defense Ministry said.
Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.
