Posted: June 3, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Israel the past two weeks has been utilizing a secret device to
counter the growing threat of mortars and Qassam rockets Hamas
regularly launches at the Jewish communities of Gaza a pilotless
drone that identifies and takes out militants and their equipment
before they can fire the rockets, senior Israeli security sources
told WND.
The Israel Air Force Monday fired three missiles at two teams of
Palestinian militants planning a mortar attack in a Gaza refugee
camp. Palestinian residents told reporters Israeli drones fired the
missiles near where a group of militants was gathering. The IDF
only confirmed that missiles destroyed both launchers, but would
not reveal which kind of aircraft was used in the operation.
A week earlier, Israel fired missiles at a Hamas crew preparing to
launch a Qassam rocket against Neve Dekalim, the main Gaza Jewish
community, from the Khan Younes cemetery in the southern Gaza
Strip. Again, residents said they saw a drone, and the IDF was
silent.
An IDF spokeswoman told WND she "cannot reveal or discuss
operational methods or means used in combat."
But security officials said the recent operations utilized an
advanced aerial pilotless drone equipped with precision-guided
missiles capable of taking out stationary and moving targets with
minimal collateral damage.
The officials wouldn't identify the exact drone Israel has been
using, but said it is a modified version of a model similar to
America's MQ-1 Predator, a system guided by a ground control
station that receives several real-time video feeds from sensors
located on the drone as well as images from a Predator-linked
satellite.
The Israeli drone, which can remain in the air for up to 24 hours,
is equipped with a color nose camera, a daytime-applicable TV lens,
a variable infrared camera for low light and night, and a synthetic
radar for looking through smoke, clouds or haze. The cameras
produce full motion video as well as still frame radar
images.
America has used the Predator, as well as a more sophisticated
system, the American Global Hawk UAV, in Afghanistan and Iraq. The
U.S. used a drone May 8 to kill a wanted al-Qaida operative in
North Waziristan.
"Use of this drone should send shivers down the spines of
terrorists planning further attacks," said an Israeli official.
"Israel is using it to serve as a deterrent for further attacks. It
provides us with constant intelligence in real time from afar, and
enables us to respond immediately and forcefully."
Rannan Gissin, a senior aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon, told WND: "I can't talk specifics. The method used is not
important, but I can say if Palestinians do not stop attacks, we
will have to do it. And we will use methods that will be
effective."
Hamas has been launching almost daily rocket and mortar attacks
against the Jewish communities in Gaza slated for evacuation this
summer. Analysts have warned the attacks will escalate as the Gaza
withdrawal draws closer so Hamas can claim it has driven Israel
from the area.
Israel has been reluctant to conduct ground operations inside Gaza
in keeping with a cease-fire agreement signed with the Palestinians
in February.
"The drone shows we can still operate without being there," said a
security source.
Some worry after the Gaza evacuation, Hamas will use the territory
gained to stage rocket attacks deeper inside Israel.
Since February, the Palestinians have smuggled multiple rockets and
five anti-aircraft missile batteries into Rafah from across the
Egypt-Gaza border, reports Israel's Center for Special
Studies.
Hamas also recently started manufacturing a new rocket, the Nasser
3, capable of reaching further than the currently used Qassam 2
rockets, which, unlike the Nasser, have improvised fuses and
warheads that don't always explode on impact.
"The Nasser 3 brings things to a whole new level of warfare," a
security source previously told WorldNetDaily. "Hamas knows they
can't get inside Israel because of the security fence, and they are
setting the stages for a major shift in tactics from suicide
bombings to firing effective rockets from Palestinian areas deep
inside Israel."
The IDF has been debating how best to respond to the new rocket
threat.
Aside from the drone, as WND first reported, military experts have
been developing a "remote control" border with Gaza that includes
unmanned sensor patrol cars and computerized observation posts that
would automatically spot and kill terrorists.
An army think tank, working with Israel's high-tech sector, has put
together a computerized observation system that will identify
"hostile elements" for the IDF, and upon human authorization, will
fire deep into Gaza. The system itself will recommend the most
appropriate weapon to use to hit a specific target.
The technology was quietly built years ago by Israeli firms and is
now in the testing and approval stages.
Said Gissin: "Rockets may be the latest threat, but Israel will
neutralize it."
