The U.S. military has been flying unarmed surveillance drones over Gaza as Washington tries to gather information about American and other hostages taken by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, the Pentagon confirmed on Nov. 3.
“In support of hostage recovery efforts, the U.S. is conducting unarmed UAV flights over Gaza, as well as providing advice and assistance to support our Israeli partner as they work on their hostage recovery efforts,” Brig. Gen. Ryder said.
The UAV flights carrying out surveillance missions were first spotted by online flight trackers.
According to the U.S. Air Force, the MQ-9 Reaper UAV is employed primarily as an intelligence-collection asset. It can loiter at altitudes of around 50,000 feet for more than 27 hours, gathering intelligence with sophisticated cameras, sensors, and radars. It has a 66-foot wingspan, a Honeywell engine, can carry 3,900 pounds of fuel, and has a maximum speed of 240 knots (276 mph).
The Reaper, which entered service with the U.S. Air Force 16 years ago, can be equipped with weapons such as air-to-ground missiles.
‘No Guarantee’
The task of recovering the hostages Hamas took during its raid on Israeli communities is made all the more challenging by the fact that many of them are possibly being held in the terrorist group’s extensive underground tunnel network. Another challenge is Hamas’s documented history of using civilians as human shields to protect their fighters.On Nov. 3, the Biden administration revealed that efforts to secure hostages held by Hamas have posed an “incredibly intense process” with “absolutely no guarantee.”
“We are going to do all we possibly can to make sure that all the hostages of all nationalities come out of Gaza,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters in a call, noting the process is “incredibly difficult, complex, [and] time-consuming.”
“In fact, when we got the two Americans out a couple of weeks ago, there was a limited pause, a kind of testing, pilot, to ensure that the hostages will be handed over to the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] and then taken out of Gaza,” the official said, referring to the Oct. 20 release of a mother and daughter, who are dual citizens of the United States and Israel. “So that was something that had been worked out and it went quite well.”
Gaza City Surrounded
Israel’s military said on Nov. 3 that its forces have encircled Gaza City and have begun targeted attacks on Hamas, which has resisted the country’s ground operation with hit-and-run attacks from underground tunnels.The city in the north of Gaza has become the focus of retaliation attacks for Israel, which has vowed to annihilate the Islamic terrorist group’s command structure.
Israel has repeatedly urged residents of Gaza’s north to evacuate to the south for greater safety, but many have been unable to leave or stay fearing continued airstrikes in the south. Israel says its strikes target Hamas and the terrorist group continues to endanger civilians by operating among them.
The military said its troops have killed numerous Hamas terrorists exiting tunnels. Footage released by the military showed soldiers and tanks advancing toward bombed-out buildings.
Meanwhile, Israeli reprisal on blockaded Gaza has killed at least 8,525 people, according to the Palestinian health ministry. However, that figure cannot be independently verified as the terrorist group has inflated casualty numbers in the past.
