Hamas: What sort of drone capabilities do they have?

How Hamas Used UAVs in its October 7 Attack

Although often considered “a poor man’s weapon,” drones are becoming increasingly more advanced and are equally challenging to thwart. When Hamas carried out its large-scale surprise attack against Israel on October 7, drones played a critical role in the terror group’s strategy. In fact, the heinous assault began when the Gaza-based group launched dozens of UAVs equipped with explosives to disable the Israeli Army’s communications and camera systems along the shared border. A security fence with CCTV towers, motion sensors, and other modes of monitoring completely surrounds Gaza’s border with Israel. Hamas was able to pinpoint key surveillance structures along the fence prior to the October 7 massacre, taking out cameras and communication systems with drones.

Once these monitoring systems were destroyed, Hamas militants began the next stage of their assault. Explosive-ridden bulldozers were able to breach Israel’s security points in different areas and the IDF could not get eyes on exactly where these breaches were occurring. Next, Hamas launched scores of Al-Zawari UAVs toward the Jewish state in an attempt to overwhelm the Iron Dome air defense system. While the Dome has a 90 percent success rate at destroying projectiles fired into Israel, the world-renowned air defense system is not invincible. Israel’s adversaries have learned that the Dome is vulnerable to swarm tactics, which is why Hamas launched dozens of drones simultaneously on October 7.

Hamas’ Drone Capabilities Have Grown

The Al-Zawari fixed-wing UAV was previously considered a reconnaissance drone but has been weaponized by Hamas. During the attack, militants also dropped munitions on main battle tanks, taking out at least 6 Merkava MBTS and even more infantry fighting vehicles. Swarms of explosive-ridden UAVs were also deployed to attack naval vessels, energy infrastructure, and emergency responders.

As detailed by Forbes, “One Hamas video shows a multicopter drone dropping a munition on a Merkava. This appears to be a larger weapon than the ones used on the security towers. Dronesec note that Hamas ‘Al-Nasir Salah al-Din Brigade’ showed off a large hexacopter attack drone, something like the heavy drone bombers used by Ukraine. The munition appears to hit the Merkava and detonate; the effect of the explosion is impossible to assess, but a few seconds later a fire appear to break out from the front right section of the tank.”