ALBAWABA - Israel's Iron Dome was activated near the Gaza border on Sunday morning in response to a drone heading toward Israel from Gaza, according to the Israeli Army Spokesperson's Unit, the Jerusalem Post reported.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, the drone was flying from the southern part of the Gaza Strip toward Israeli airspace when the interceptor missiles were launched while it was still over Gaza.
Sirens were immediately activated in the bordering towns of Gaza according to the followed protocol in such emergencies. The drone “did not pose a threat to civilians in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said.
The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas claimed last week that it had captured an Israeli "Orbiter K1" drone in the Gaza Strip, following Palestinian media reports that an Israeli drone had fallen in the Strip on Monday.
The statement said that the Israeli drone was on a hostile reconnaissance mission in eastern Gaza. The Israeli forces have been conducting an ongoing surveillance mission of the Gaza Strip using reconnaissance drones for numerous years, as well as monitoring and surveillance of assassinations and elimination of resistance personnel.
Following the arrest of a key member of the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Israel deployed drones over the Gaza Strip earlier this month. Last week, an Israeli drone crashed in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City's south. The downed drone was claimed by Hamas' Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
