TEL AVIV – The Gaza-based group Islamic Jihad posted a video showing off a new light plane, marking the first time the group has publicly announced that it is building up its own weapons cache in the war against Israel.
The video (see below), which was produced by the organization’s military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, features operatives piloting the light plane which is apparently designed to “overcome the difficulty” that normally arises in standard sea and land attacks.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Islamic Jihad has traditionally used social media to post images and video clips of fallen Israeli drones.
During Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip in 2014, the terror group deployed unmanned aerial vehicles against Israel, sometimes taking 100 trips per day. Hamas also recently bragged about coming into possession of an Israeli drone that it says has been put back into operation.
This was not the first time Hamas made such a claim. During Operation Protective Edge, Hamas claimed to have downed an Israeli drone and subsequently reused it. The following summer Hamas announced that it captured another drone and made it operational.
During that war, the IDF managed to strike the Hamas drone. However, earlier this month Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon warned that the Gaza-based terror group is still developing unmanned aircraft, funded and aided by Iran.
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