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The defense establishment used a quadcopter to drop gas grenades on rioters in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon-based pan-Arabist satellite television channel Al-Mayadeen reported over the weekend.
According to the report, the incident took place last Friday between the Gaza neighborhood of Shuja'iyya and Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
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Quadcopter drops ammunition on protestors (Video: Al-Mayadeen)
This is the first time an Israeli quadcopter, a visible unmanned aerial vehicle flying at a relatively low altitude, drops ammunition on Palestinian protestors—in this case, non-lethal ammunition.
The video documenting the use of the quadcopter to disperse the crowd shows a relatively big black aircraft flying over the protestors during the weekly demonstration, as gas grenades land between the rioters, causing them to flee.
Last Friday's protest wasn't unusually big and didn't differ in any way from routine demonstrations that take place in the same area every Friday, attracting hundreds of Palestinians.
"Any measure used by the Israelis doesn’t scare us and won't scare us," said one of the Palestinians who participated in the protest and witnessed the quadcopter dropping the grenades. There were no injuries in the incident.
The Gaza Division and the Judea and Samaria Division have been using quadcopters regularly during the Palestinians' weekend protests to collect intelligence and follow the rioters and main instigators.