The Palestinian resistance group Hamas said on Monday that it has captured an Israeli drone that was flying over the Gaza Strip. The drone was reportedly on a spying mission and crashed due to a technical malfunction.
The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, announced in a statement that they seized a K1 Orbiter drone on Monday while it was on “a hostile reconnaissance mission in the airspace of eastern Gaza.”
The K1 Orbiter is a small, lightweight drone that can be launched by hand and can fly for up to three hours. It is equipped with a camera and can transmit live video and images to a ground station.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority confirmed on Monday that a drone of the domestic intelligence service, Shin Bet, had crashed in Gaza during “operational activity.”
The Israeli Channel 14 said that the drone crashed in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City, “as a result of a technical malfunction and not for a hostile reason.”
Hamas and the Israeli occupation have been locked in a cycle of violence, especially after May 2021 when an 11-day war broke out that killed more than 250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. The two sides have since exchanged sporadic rocket fire and airstrikes, amid efforts to reach a long-term ceasefire.
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