The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor confirmed that the Israeli army continues to use armed quadcopter drones to carry out deliberate killings of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the Monitor explained that it had documented the killing of at least 60 civilians by these drones or by munitions they dropped between the ceasefire that came into effect on October 10, 2025, and early September 2026.
The Monitor stressed that the recurrence of these incidents after the ceasefire, targeting children, displaced persons, farmers, shepherds, and people returning to check on their homes, reveals a continuing pattern of deliberate killing of Palestinian civilians. Israel employs military technology that allows it to identify specific individuals, track their movements, and precisely target them, despite their clear civilian status and their lack of participation in hostilities or any imminent threat to Israeli forces or others.
He explained that quadcopters are small, multi-rotor tactical drones, some of whose systems can be operated by a single soldier. They are equipped with day and thermal cameras, target acquisition and tracking systems, and weapon stabilization. Depending on the mission, some models can be armed with 5.56mm and 7.62mm caliber weapons or 40mm high-explosive rounds, enabling the operator to closely monitor individuals, track their movements, and then engage them with high precision, either by firing or dropping munitions.
The Observatory emphasized that these technical capabilities allow the operator to monitor the target, verify their identity, and track their movements before firing. This significantly reduces the margin of error in target identification and reinforces the obligation to refrain from attacking if the target appears to be a civilian or if there is any doubt about their status.
He explained that the repeated killing of children, displaced persons, farmers, and shepherds by direct fire or munitions dropped from these aircraft, despite their clear civilian status and the absence of any direct participation in hostilities or any imminent threat on their part, provides strong evidence of the intent to deliberately target civilians, rather than the result of mistaken targeting or accidental casualties.
The Observatory pointed out that these attacks are fundamentally prohibited and cannot be justified by military necessity or subjected to the principle of proportionality, as direct attacks on civilians are inherently prohibited and cannot be permitted by claims of military necessity or the rules of proportionality.
