The drone was over the Gaza coastline when the IAF took aim and brought it down.
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According to an Israeli army statement, the unarmed UAV which, it claimed, belonged to Hamas’s armed wing Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades had been under surveillance by the army from the moment it took off from the Gaza Strip.
In 2015, the last time the Women’s Boat to Gaza attempted to deliver aid to the territory, the Israeli navy boarded and took over its vessel, Marianne.
There was no immediate reaction from the Islamist militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza.
Once hit, the drone crashed into the Mediterranean, the army said.
In recent years, Hamas drones have, on occasion come near, and sometimes breached Israeli airspace, leading the IDF to scramble jets or fire missiles.
A spokesman for Hamas said, “We launched several unmanned aerial vehicles to perform special tasks deep within Israel”.
In February this year, Crossings Authority inspectors together with the Shin Bet intelligence agency recently foiled an attempt to smuggle commercial multi-copter drones into Gaza, authorities announced on Sunday.
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The drones, all of which were equipped with quality cameras, were apparently set to be used for spying on Israeli targets, the Defense Ministry said.
