Israeli army using Chinese drones to bomb civilians in Gaza - report

A drone view shows Palestinians walking past the rubble of houses and buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes, January 20. (Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem)

By Lucy Mumbi
Monday, July 14, 2025

The drones are being manually operated by soldiers on the ground to drop grenades on civilians, including children, either to force them from their homes or prevent them from returning to areas previously evacuated.

An investigation has uncovered how the Israeli military is converting Chinese-made commercial drones into lethal weapons to bomb unarmed Palestinian civilians in Gaza, as part of efforts to depopulate targeted areas.

According to findings by Israeli publications 972 Magazine and Local Call, the drones are being manually operated by soldiers on the ground to drop grenades on civilians, including children, either to force them from their homes or prevent them from returning to areas previously evacuated.

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The two outlets, in a report published on Sunday, said they interviewed seven Israeli soldiers and officers to compile their findings. The revelations come as criticism intensifies over Israel’s controversial plan to establish an internment camp in southern Gaza, with former Israeli Prime Ministers Yair Lapid and Ehud Olmert warning that the facility could amount to a “concentration camp” if Palestinians are confined without the ability to leave.

“The weaponisation of civilian drones to kill and dispossess Palestinians is the latest revelation of the cruelties normalised in Gaza and further evidence of how Israel is trying to forcibly transfer the population to the south of the Strip,” Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, who is reporting from Amman due to Israel’s ban on the network operating inside Israel and the occupied West Bank, said.

The investigation revealed that Israeli troops are primarily using EVO drones manufactured by the Chinese company Autel. Originally intended for photography and priced at around $3,000 (Sh387,606.60), these drones have been adapted for combat using military-issued attachments referred to as “iron balls,” which allow hand grenades to be affixed and dropped with the push of a button.

The report notes that most Israeli military units operating in Gaza are currently using these drones.

An individual referred to as S., an Israeli soldier deployed in Rafah, confirmed that he coordinated numerous drone strikes in areas that the army had ordered to be evacuated. Reviewing battalion records over 100 days of operations, the soldier said dozens of drone attacks were carried out under his command.

Although official reports listed all those killed as “terrorists”, S. admitted that, aside from rare encounters with armed fighters, most of those targeted were unarmed civilians.

“It was clear that they were trying to return to their homes, there’s no question,” he told the investigators.

“None of them were armed, and nothing was ever found near their bodies. We never fired warning shots. Not at any point.”

S. added that because many of the victims were killed far from army positions, their bodies were left exposed.

“You could see it on the drone footage,” he said. “I couldn’t bring myself to watch a dog eating a body, but others around me watched it. The dogs have learned to run toward areas where there’s shooting or explosions; they understand it probably means there’s a body there.”

Another soldier, H., who served in the Nuseirat area in central Gaza, said drone strikes were frequently launched at people simply for crossing undefined lines.

“Once a commander defines an imaginary red line that no one is allowed to cross, anyone who does is marked for death,” he told the investigators, adding that attacks were often carried out on civilians “just walking in the street.”

Soldiers also confirmed that children were among those deliberately targeted. S. recounted how a grenade was dropped on a boy who had simply entered a restricted area and done nothing else. In another case, troops attempted to target a child riding a bicycle at a distance.