The Israeli military said it downed a drone launched by Gaza militants yesterday, the first time it encountered an unmanned aircraft since the start of its offensive last week, as Israeli airstrikes killed four more Palestinians in the coastal strip.
Israel began its campaign against militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza last Tuesday, saying it was responding to heavy rocket fire from the densely populated territory. The military says it has launched more than 1,300 airstrikes since then, while Palestinian militants have launched nearly 1,000 rockets.
The outbreak of violence followed the kidnappings and killings of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank last month, as well as the subsequent kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian teenager in an apparent revenge attack, along with Israeli raids against Hamas militants and infrastructure in the West Bank.
Photo: AFP
The Palestinian Ministry of Health Ministry in Gaza has said that 172 people died in Israeli air attacks, including dozens of civilians, not counting yesterday’s casualties.
There have been no Israeli deaths as a result of Hamas rocket launches, though several people have been wounded, including a teenage boy who was seriously injured by rocket shrapnel on Sunday.
The Israeli military said the drone was shot down in mid-flight by a Patriot surface-to-air missile along the southern Israeli coastline, near the city of Ashdod. In a statement to media, Hamas claimed it launched three drones yesterday, though the military said it was only one.
Hamas said it has developed two types of drones: one for intelligence gathering and one for delivering munitions. It also said it lost contact with one of the drones and that the targets included the Israeli Ministry of Defense compound in Tel Aviv.
It was the first time the militant group publicly acknowledged it has drones in its arsenal.
The use of drones with an offensive capacity could inflict significant casualties, something the rockets from Gaza have failed to do, largely because of the success of the Israeli military’s “Iron Dome” air defense system in shooting them down.
Meanwhile, Israel continued its aerial attacks on Gaza, with four Palestinians reported killed in two Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Khan Younis, officials from the city’s European Hospital said.
The officials said Saddam Moamar, his wife, Hanadai, and his father, Mousa were killed by an airstrike that hit their house. Their neighbor, Maher Abu Mor, was killed in another airstrike at his home, the officials said.
In another incident yesterday, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man during clashes with stone-throwers in the West Bank yesterday, both sides said.
Activists said Israel also detained dozens of Palestinians overnight in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in part of a crackdown on suspected militants stepped up last month after the abduction and killing of three Jewish seminary students.
A Palestinian witness said Munir al-Badarin, 21, and other young men were throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers outside the West Bank village of Samoa when they were fired on by another army unit.
“They [the Israeli troops] were hiding and ducking to the ground and when we showed up they rose from their place and began firing at us,” the witness said. “We escaped and soon we discovered that Munir was missing.”
Ambulance driver Abdel-Mua’ez al-Jarsawi told reporters he was summoned to Samoa, where soldiers initially held him back as they tried to resuscitate al-Badarin, who was shot twice in the lower back. Al-Jarsawi said he took al-Badarin to a nearby Palestinian hospital, where the young man died.
The Israeli army has confirmed the death and said it was looking into the incident.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”
RSS