The military wing of the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement Hamas announced on 27 January that its fighters shot down an Israeli UAV drone over the Gaza Strip.

“Important, sensitive information has been taken from the drone,” said a Hamas official, who later posted several images of the drone on social media on 29 January. Tel Aviv, on the other hand, has been silent about the counterattack.

Israeli forces claim that the drone crashed into the Gaza Strip during “operational activity over the weekend” and that the incident is currently under investigation.

According to Israel’s Army Radio, the Israeli military is apprehensive about losing “sensitive information” through the devices on the drone.

Ever since the Israeli military increased its attacks and raids in the occupied West Bank last year, Palestinian resistance factions have grown in sophistication and enhanced their military equipment. One such example is the recently acquired SAM-7 missiles that were used to combat Israeli air assaults in early 2022. 

A few days prior, the Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets toward the adjacent Israeli settlement of Ashkelon, which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

The attack was launched in retaliation to the massive Israeli raid of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp on 26 January, during which Israeli troops perpetrated a massacre that left 10 Palestinians dead.

“The occupation will pay the price for the massacre it carried out in Jenin and its camp this morning, and the response of the resistance will not be delayed,” the deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri, said in a statement.

“The will of our nation is stronger than the crimes of the occupying regime. Jenin, the West Bank, and its residents will remain invincible, and these crimes will only increase the strength and determination of the people to fight,” he added.