Why US drones are flying over Gaza

The United States wants to play a more active role in searching for hostages taken by Hamas after the 7 October terror attack on Israel. The biggest ally of the Jewish nation is using surveillance drones for it. According to two US officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to Reuters, the US was flying intelligence-gathering drones over Gaza to help with hostage rescue efforts . One of the officers stated that the drone flights had been ongoing for more than a week. The development comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepares to visit Israel and meet with Israeli leaders for the second time since the war began. Before leaving, Blinken stated that one of the main goals of his mission was to secure the release of all hostages in Gaza. US officials have said 10 Americans who remain unaccounted for may be among the more than 200 people taken as hostages into Gaza , where they are believed to be held in Hamas’ extensive tunnel network . MQ-9 drones aid US hostage rescue efforts in Gaza According to a report in The New York Times, the aircraft are MQ-9 Reapers operated by US special operations forces and were first spotted on Flightradar24, a publicly accessible flight-tracking website, on Saturday. However, Pentagon officials said the drones have been active in the area since the days following Hamas’s attack on Israel. The MQ-9 was designed to be the United States Air Force’s first “hunter-killer” drone, but it is now largely employed for surveillance missions because of its powerful sensors and capacity to hover above an area for more than 20 hours at a time. [caption id=“attachment_13339912” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Palestinians look for survivors in the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Bureij refugee camp, Gaza Strip. AP[/caption] While Israel often conducts reconnaissance flights over Gaza, US defence sources believe this is the first time US drones have undertaken operations over the enclave. The US military has been sending bombs and artillery rounds to Israel as well as two aircraft carriers and hundreds of troops to West Asia. A number of dozen US commandos have been sent to Israel to provide guidance on hostage rescue operations. However, it appears from the surveillance planes that the Pentagon has become increasingly involved in a crucial hostage-rescue operation undertaken by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Focus on locating hostages According to US defence department officials, the unarmed surveillance flights are not helping Israeli military actions on the ground. According to two officials, the purpose was to help locate hostages, watch for signs of life, and send potential leads to the Israeli military. Also Read: What’s Israel doing to rescue hostages in Hamas captivity? The flights are centred in southern Gaza, some 15 miles north of the Israeli military’s initial advance. Amelia Smith, an aviation expert who has been tracking the flights, told The New York Times. There appear to be at least six unique MQ-9 planes involved in the endeavour. Several aircraft examined by The Times and Smith hovered over Gaza at 24,000 to 26,000 feet for roughly three hours. [caption id=“attachment_13339922” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Residents of Kibbutz Kfar Azza wear blindfolds during a demonstration in solidarity with friends and relatives held hostage in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel. AP[/caption] Israeli forces on Thursday encircled Gaza City — the enclave’s main city — in their assault on Hamas, which resisted with hit-and-run attacks from underground tunnels. The city in the north of Gaza has become the focus of attack for Israel, which has vowed to annihilate the Islamist group’s command structure and has told civilians to flee to the south. Israel has vowed to avenge the 7 October attack, which killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials, in the deadliest day of the nation’s 75-year history. Israel’s retaliation bombardment and ground offensive of the small Palestinian enclave of 2.3 million has killed at least 9,061 people, according to Gaza health authorities. With inputs from Reuters