In their home in Gaza City, Raed Sharaf* sits with his family in total darkness.

Their shattered windows are draped with dark blankets to shield them from the gaze of Israeli drones.

As night falls, the Palestinian family counts down the hours until dawn, hoping to survive another round of relentless Israeli bombardment.

But just before sunrise, the familiar buzz of an Israeli quadcopter breaks the silence.

It hovers above their building, drops a payload on the roof, then moves on to neighbouring homes.

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Minutes of silence are then shattered by a series of explosions that rock the area.

“The blast left a hole in our ceiling and damaged most of the upper floor,” Sharaf told Middle East Eye.

“Our neighbours’ homes were hit the same way, bombs dropped and detonated simultaneously.”

According to Sharaf, the tactic is increasingly used in neighbourhoods where residents refuse to obey Israeli expulsion orders.

“They drop dozens of explosive boxes onto residential buildings and then remotely detonate them.”

Since the genocide in Gaza began in October 2023, Israeli quadcopters – small unmanned aerial vehicles with four rotors – have played a central role in the military assault.

Initially used for surveillance, the drones are now being deployed to fire live rounds, ignite fires with incendiary bombs, and scatter shrapnel-filled explosives over densely populated areas.

Operated remotely, these drones allow Israeli forces to strike targets continuously, without risking soldiers on the ground. For civilians, they represent a constant and deadly threat.

‘What they don’t destroy with missiles and explosive-laden robots, they set on fire with drones’
– Raed Sharaf, Gaza City resident
“The army gave evacuation orders for our area a few days ago, but we have nowhere to go,” Sharaf, who lives in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, said.

“We can’t afford to relocate or buy a makeshift tent, so we stayed. Many of our neighbours made the same choice, knowing that leaving means never returning.”

He added: “To force us out, the army has flattened buildings, bombed rooftops, and fired on people in the streets and even inside their homes.”

On Tuesday, the Israeli military issued sweeping expulsion orders for the entire northern Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, demanding over one million people move south to al-Mawasi Khan Younis.

Yet over the past month, such orders have become frequent across eastern, northern and southern parts of Gaza City – each followed by violent attacks that appear aimed at forcibly displacing residents.

Quadcopters have been key to these operations.

“They want to drive us out by any means,” Sharaf said. “What they don’t destroy with missiles and explosive-laden robots, they set on fire with drones.”

“These drones come right into homes, dropping bombs inside apartments and courtyards. They don’t care if people are still inside. They say we’ve been warned, but they don’t care whether we have anywhere to go.”

Incendiary bombs

Alongside explosives, Israeli quadcopters have dropped dozens of incendiary bombs in recent weeks across Gaza, igniting fires in tents, homes, clinics, markets and vehicles.

Footage from Sheikh Radwan shows flares landing on a parked car outside a residential building.

“Israeli quadcopters are dropping incendiary bombs on our neighbourhood,” residents posted in online appeals.

Fares Afanah, head of Ambulance and Emergency Services in northern Gaza, confirmed the attacks extended to healthcare facilities.

“A few days ago, Israeli forces targeted Sheikh Radwan Clinic with incendiary bombs,” Afanah told MEE.

Genocide by remote control: Israel’s explosive robots devastate Gaza

“One landed in the clinic yard and one on an ambulance. Emergency teams put out the fire before it destroyed the vehicle.”

He said other bombs struck civilian cars near the clinic and burned tents and stalls in the nearby market. “Despite this, our teams continue working from the clinic.”

Since the war began, Afanah said, Israeli drones have repeatedly targeted ambulances with incendiary bombs, wounding medical staff.

“When we were at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, these drones came daily and dropped bombs in the hospital yard and on medical teams. They were routinely dropping bombs on the hospital’s yard and buildings,” he added.

In one incident on 23 November 2024, Israeli quadcopters dropped multiple bombs on the facility, injuring the hospital’s head, Dr Hossam Abu Safiya, who has since been kidnapped by Israeli forces.

“Now they’re using bombs packed with shrapnel, lethal on direct hit and capable of wounding over ten people at once.

“These are meant to kill, injure, and drive residents out,” Afanah said.

He also described larger quadcopters dropping barrels filled with over ten kilograms of explosives.

“They target rooftops and power panels. The destruction is massive. Countless civilians have been killed or wounded by these bombs, we can’t even keep count.”

*Name changed for safety

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https://www.theinteldrop.org/2025/09/11/jews-drop-incendiary-and-explosive-bombs-on-gaza-city-homes-and-tents/

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