On 9 November, Israel revealed that its usage for drones has not only extended to surveillance operations, but also to targets in Gaza, Iran, and Sudan.

In July, Israeli censors permitted the publication of information regarding Israel’s drone capabilities but did not admit to any armed drone attacks.

Now, Brigadier-General Ner Horowitz has admitted that such attacks were carried out in the past.

“Today I can speak of this openly,” he said.

Horowitz added that Israel’s armed drones not only provide Tel Aviv with additional firepower but also speed up the detection of hostile targets.

Horowitz disclosed that Israel’s drone force helped to eliminate an Egyptian Jihad group, after militants burst across the southern Israeli border in a hijacked armored vehicle in May 2012. He also revealed that the drones were used to help Ukrainian forces guide the shelling of Russian troops entering the country.

However, manufacturers of Israeli drones remain barred from advertising their products. No drones were among the models on display at the annual UVID DroneTech conference hosted by Israel Defense magazine in Tel Aviv.

On 17 October, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev warned Israel of the repercussions of supplying Ukraine with weapons, saying that any step in support of Ukrainian forces would seriously harm bilateral relations.

“It seems Israel is preparing to supply the Kiev regime with weapons. It is a very reckless move. It will destroy all bilateral relations between our two countries,” Medvedev, who served as president and prime minister in the past, said in a statement on Telegram.

Medvedev’s comments were in response to a tweet made by Israeli Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai on 16 October, saying, “The time has come for Ukraine to receive military aid as well, just as the USA and NATO countries provide.”

However, Israel has already been supplying Ukraine with non-lethal aid, including military equipment and missile defense systems provided via a Polish intermediary, according to reports.

According to The Jerusalem Post, an Israeli official revealed to the New York Times that Israel provided security and intelligence information to Ukraine about Iranian drones used by Russia in its military operation. 

The official said that “a private Israeli company also provided Ukraine with satellite images of the locations of the Russian forces,” according to the Israeli newspaper.