The Israeli army intends to use armed drones during invasions into several parts of the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Channel 11 News has reported that the commanders of the Israeli army in the West Bank and the Commander of the “Menashe Brigade” underwent training on the operation of armed drones to use in invasions into areas of the West Bank.
Division Commanders of the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank will be the persons deciding on using the attack drone during the Israeli military invasions of certain parts of the occupied West Bank.
The armed drones will be used in bombing certain areas, dubbed as “difficult” where the military faces armed resistance from Palestinian fighters when the military invades these cities, towns or refugee camps.
The new regulations are likely specifically meant to be mainly used in Jenin and Nablus, where the Israeli army has been encountering armed resistance from Palestinian fighters during Israeli daily military invasions.
The drones would be used to specify resistance targets to bomb before the army invades certain areas or during these invasions to assassinate armed resistance fighters and reduce the possibility of exchanging fire with them.
While the illegal Israeli policy of extra-judicially assassinating Palestinian fighters, political leaders, and even social figures is not new, the army largely used fighter jets to fire missiles into homes and buildings or at cars to conduct these assassinations, an issue that always led to large numbers of civilian casualties.
These extras-judicial assassinations were largely not carried out during armed confrontations and targeted not only fighters but also focused on political leaders and even social figures in what Israel “justified” as “preemptive strikes”.
The new regulations of using armed drones in the West Bank would likely be used to assassinate fighters actively engaging or about to engage in exchanging fire with invading brigades and soldiers.
They could also be deployed to assassinate fighters and leaders with the smaller missiles used in these armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) even if the occupation army was not invading the targeted areas.
It is worth mentioning that Israel has been using its armed drones in attacking several parts of the Gaza Strip, in addition to using its fighter jets, in assassinating fighters or leaders, including in their homes, killing them and their families, especially during the frequent Israeli offensives of the coastal region.
The Israeli army has also been using surveillance drones in the West Bank, especially during protests against the Annexation Wall and colonies, however, the use of armed drones in the West Bank, could potentially lead to a serious escalation, and retaliation by the Palestinian fighters, which would also mean even more escalation across the occupied territory.
