A drone that Israeli troops recovered in southern Israel that the military said entered Israeli airspace from the Gaza Strip two days earlier, on August 13, 2021. Photo: Israel Defense Forces.

i24 News – The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Friday that troops on Wednesday downed a drone belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization that crossed from Gaza into Israeli territory.

The drone was being monitored by the IDF throughout the entire incident and was located earlier Friday in southern Israel, according to the statement.

“The IDF will continue to operate in order to prevent any attempt to violate Israeli sovereignty,” the statement said.

Also on Wednesday, the IDF shot down a Hezbollah drone that crossed the border from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

“A Hezbollah drone crossed from Lebanon into Israeli airspace in the eastern part of the Blue Line yesterday,” a military spokesperson said on Thursday.

The incident came nearly a week after the Shi’ite terrorist movement fired a volley of rockets at Israeli positions, prompting retaliatory fire in the most significant escalation on Israel’s northern border in years.

On the southern front, Hamas has been occasionally launching arson balloon attacks against Israeli communities, sparking fires and prompting swift responses from the military with the aerial bombing of Hamas targets the night after each incendiary balloon attack.

The activity at the Israel-Gaza border threatens the ceasefire that ended 11 days of intense fighting in May that saw thousands of rockets launched indiscriminately at Israeli territory and retaliatory strikes by the Israeli military on terrorist targets in the Palestinian coastal enclave.