The Jenin drone. Click to see full-size image.
The al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), has unveiled a drone dubbed “Jenin” in a move that highlights the growing capabilities of Palestinian armed factions in the Gaza Strip.
On April 28, Abu Hamzah, a spokesman for the al-Quds Brigades, presented footage of the new drone during a video message commemorating the upcoming Quds Day.
“The Jenin drone is working, thanks to God, within the operational field of the air force, which our mujahedeen continue to strengthen and develop inside the besieged Gaza Strip,” the spokesman said.
Abu Hamzah revealed that armed drones developed by the al-Quds Brigades were used to attack a Humvee armored vehicle of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) near the Gaza Strip in 2019.
The al-Quds Brigade didn’t reveal any details about the Jenin drone, which was named after the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Recently, the IDF killed several members of the PJI and wounded many others during a series of raids in the camp.
The Jenin drone appears to be a copy of the Iranian KAS-04. Tehran allies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen operate several variants of the drone under different names.
Gaza’s armed factions used combat drones against the IDF in the past. During the 2021 battle, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas Movement, used a copy of the Iranian Ababil-2 suicide drone dubbed “Shehab” to attack Israeli targets near Gaza. The IDF has been working to improve its ability to detect and intercept combat drones since the end of the battle.
The unveiling of the Jenin drone was a warning to Israel who continues to impose strict security measures on Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
