The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ militant wing, released a new video on Monday in which a masked militant holds what appears to be a damaged Israeli reconnaissance drone they claim was shot down in Gaza.
It was not possible to verify whether this was an Israeli drone or whether indeed it had been shut down by Hamas militants. The Israel Defense Forces told Mashable that they have no reports of any of their surveillance drones being shot down or crashing in Gaza.
And while it does look like an Elbit Systems Skylark, it is not clear that it was actually shot down – it could have simply crashed. And this wouldn’t be the first time. In November, an Skylark crashed in Gaza due to “technical issues,” the IDF said at the time. The drone in the new video could be footage of that drone, with Hamas trying to score propaganda points by pretending to have shot it down.
Source: Mashable
I find it curious when groups post pictures of downed unmanned aircraft…as if to affirm the very purpose for using them.