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Israeli army shoots down Hamas drone over Gaza

Xinhua, February 23, 2017 Adjust font size:

Israel's military said that it shot down a drone launched by militants from the Gaza Strip on Thursday afternoon.

The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was intercepted by an air force fighter jet above the coastline of Gaza before it entered Israel's airspace, a military spokesperson said in a statement.

"The UAV fell into the sea," the statement read.

According to the spokesperson, the drone was launched by Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast War and has been controlling these territories ever since.

Israel's last offensive in Gaza in the summer of 2014 claimed the lives of at least 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

The military campaign was concluded with a fragile truce. Since then, Gaza rocket occasionally hit southern Israel, usually without causing any damage or injuries, and Israeli responded with airstrikes or artillery. Endit