WASHINGTON – The American military is flying unarmed drones over the Gaza Strip to help Israel find the more than 200 hostages taken there by Hamas during the terror group’s Oct. 7 attack, the Defense Department announced Friday.
“In support of hostage recovery efforts, the US 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,” Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement.
While Friday marked the first time the Pentagon acknowledged the drone operations, Ryder said the flights “began after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.”
The disclosure came after some media outlets on the ground in Israel spotted US drones flying over Gaza, despite President Biden’s pledge not to send American troops into the Jewish state to take part in the conflict.
The military uses drones for both military strikes and reconnaissance, with unarmed drones typically performing the latter operation.
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2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip more than three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: Terrorist group Hamas wins a Palestinian legislative election.
2007: Hamas seizes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the town of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years, in an early-morning ambush Oct. 7, firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of militants into Israeli towns.
Terrorists killed more than 1,400 Israelis, wounded more than 4,200, and took at least 200 hostage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to announce, “We are at war,” and vowed Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
The Gaza Health Ministry — which is controlled by Hamas — reported at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 injured since the war began.
The US initially sent special forces operators into Israel to help train and advise on hostage recovery after the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas, which killed more than 1,400 people — including at least 33 Americans.
Those American troops have since left the country, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
Officials have said a handful of Americans — up to 10 — remain among the hostages trapped in Gaza by Hamas.
“We remain relentlessly focused on securing the release of hostages, including American citizens,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Friday after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We discussed these ongoing efforts today.”