Israeli quadcopter downed by Palestinian resistance fighters

The drone was shot down on Sunday while taking images over the Beit Hanoun Crossing that is located on the enclave’s northern border with the occupied territories, said a report by the Arabic-language Palestine Today news agency.

Israel has reportedly stepped up sending drones over Gaza skies in recent days. The reconnaissance missions usually act as precursors to military aggression.

Last year, Palestinian fighters shot down two of the aircraft. Gaza protesters last month also targeted a drone that had flown into the territory with only rocks, causing it to crash.

Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza in 2005. Two years later, though, the regime imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian territory after resistance movement Hamas rose to power there.

Ever since, Tel Aviv has waged three wholesale wars on the territory. Observers say the combination of the siege and military assaults is meant to render, what is already the world’s largest open-air prison, even more uninhabitable.