The U.S. military is flying unarmed MQ-9 Reaper drones over Gaza to help Israel apprehend and rescue hostages being held by Hamas.
Two Department of Defense officials confirmed the surveillance flights to the New York Times.
Conducted by U.S. Special Operations forces, the drones have been in the air since the early aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 invasion of Israel, the officials told the publication. Rather than support Israel’s military response, which has progressed into a ground operation, the purpose of the drones is to find hostages, monitor for signs of life, and pass on intelligence to the Israel Defense Forces. The IDF moved into Gaza City, the Gaza Strip’s metropolis, on Thursday. The officials told the Times that, to their knowledge, this is the first time that U.S. drones have flown missions over Gaza.
Israel has maintained that Hamas holds over 200 Israeli hostages, and U.S. officials have said that the ten Americans still unaccounted for could be among them. Many of the hostages are believed to be trapped in Hamas’s underground tunnel complex in Gaza.
In what appears to be an effort to delay Israel’s military escalation, Hamas has released hostages in a slow trickle. Two American women who were visiting family in southern Israel when Hamas attacked were recently freed after Qatari mediation.
Hamas decided to release the pair for “humanitarian reasons and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by (President Joe) Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless,” said Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, in a statement first reported by Reuters.
On Thursday, the Republican-controlled House passed a bill to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel amid its war against Hamas. The measure, which pairs aid for the Jewish state with $14.3 billion in cuts to IRS funding, now likely faces a fight in the Senate. There, Republicans and Democrats have suggested packaging aid to Israel with additional aid to Ukraine, a proposal that most House Republicans rejected.
Since the October 7 onslaught, the U.S. has sent significant military resources to Israel as well as deployed two aircraft carriers and hundreds of troops to the Middle East, the Times reported. American commandos are reportedly on the ground in Israel assisting the hostage search.