Near Erez Crossing, Israel-Gaza Border
A drone flown by an Israeli army intelligence unit during a demonstration flight.
Gaza City
Ezz Al Zaanoon, a Palestinian photojournalist.
"The most scary part in the war is the drone, not like the F-16 when it's flying they have a special target. The drone is still in the sky and watching. It's one press on a button and I can die.
The first time I saw a rocket from a drone was when my brother Mohamed got injured in a drone strike [in 2006]. It was the first time that we knew that a drone could target people. Drones are a sign here for Gazans, everyone knows it, everyone has an experience with it somehow."
Over the years, armed aerial drones have played a larger role in Israel’s fight against armed Palestinians on the ground. A report on the 2014 War by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights attributed almost one-third of all civilian casualties, 496 persons out of 1543 total civilians killed, to drone strikes.
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Iris mini-tactical robot at the RoboTeam factory.
RoboTeam specializes in building unmanned ground vehicles for use inside buildings, tunnels, and other urban environments. The company worked with the Israeli military during the war in 2014 to create a prototype robot that was used to clear tunnels near the border with Gaza.
Gaza City
Inside a home that was hit by an Israeli airstrike during the 2014 War.
Gaza City
A warhead, from a missile that failed to detonate during the 2014 War, encased by a fragmentation jacket. The jacket is composed of thousands of tiny metal cubes, known as shrapnel, which increases the weapon's lethality against 'soft' targets.
The warhead is most likely from a LAHAT missile, manufactured by Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel's largest aeronautics company.
Gaza City
A shrapnel cube, 1mm in size, from the warhead of what is most likely an Israeli-made LAHAT missile that failed to detonate during the 2014 War
Near Erez Crossing, Israel-Gaza Border
An Israeli soldier from the Sky Rider unit launches a Skylark drone during a demonstration.
The Sky Riders are intelligence units commanded by the artillery brigade in the Israeli army. Photographers are instructed not to show the faces of soldiers in the unit.
Shuja'iyya, Gaza
Eslam Shamali stands amid the rubble of her destroyed home. Eslam’s brother was a Hamas commander who died fighting in this neighborhood during the 2014 War. Her mother, father, and another brother were killed in the family's home, which was destroyed during the same battle.
"For me as an adult, it's not a big deal for me to hear the sound of the drones, if it is in the night or the day, I got used to that and I know that it's not something healthy for my psychological situation, but that's the reality."
Near Airport City, Israel
Inside a hangar at IAI's main production facility that is used as a factory and showroom for the company's drones.
Israel pioneered the use of aerial drones in the 1970’s and 80’s, first integrating the technology into combat operations during wars with Lebanon and other Arab states. Early experience on the battlefield (and continuing conflicts in the region) aided the development of a robust drone industry that has emerged as one of the top global exporter of drone systems in the world today.
Beit Hannoun, Gaza
An impact crater from the 2014 War.
Al-Faraheen, Gaza Strip
Sadki Chaheen, a farmer who lives and works close to the border with Israel. When drones fly above the area, farmers are reluctant to work in their fields for fear of being targeted.
"Usually one drone or two drones fly above our fields. If we hear the sound of the drone and it is really close and if there's more than two drones in the sky we recognize that something wrong happened in the buffer zone areas and we start to escape from our fields immediately."
Near Peta Tikvah, Israel
An optical payload is pointed out a the window as it undergoes calibration at a factory belonging to Controp, an Israeli company that specialises in optics and camera systems used by drones.
Wadi as Salqa, Gaza
Ibrahim al-Remahi shows where he was injured during a drone strike during the 2014 War that targeted his family and killed two of his daughters and a son.
"I evacuated the house with my family and I went with my sons to pray. We finished and suddenly the drone missile targeted us - the type of missile that has the small metal cubes. I received one cube on my neck beside my liver here. My son was killed directly in front of my eyes.
After the missile targeted us, I looked around and suddenly I realized that also I'm bleeding. So I start to put my hands on the parts that bleed and after that there was another rocket that hit my two daughters.
After that I just saw myself in the ambulance and I spent more than 20 days in the hospital. I had a surgery in my stomach because of the shrapnel.
I didn’t see my family that got buried because I woke up after 20 days."
Wadi as Salqa, Gaza Strip
A scar on Ibrahim al-Remahi’s hand from he airstrike, where a small piece of shrapnel remains under his skin.
Wadi al-Salqa, Gaza
Pieces of the two missiles that struck the al-Remahi family.
Near Petah-Tikva, Israel
An optical payload inside of a shipping case at the Controp factory.
Beit Hannoun, Gaza
A slaughtered ram inside inside a house that abandoned after an Israeli artillery bombardment during the 2014 War.
Petah-Tikva, Israel
An employee at the Aerosol factory making airframe components. Aerosol is a small company that mainly manufactures pieces of UAVs and other aircraft for larger companies in Israel.
Left: Shuja’iyya, Gaza Strip
Right: Shuja’iyya, Gaza Strip
Children play beneath a poster memorialising a Palestinian fighter.
Gaza City
A young boy marching in a parade of al-Qassam youths in Gaza City. Al-Qassam is the military wing of Hamas, the Palestinian-Islamist political regime that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007.
Yavne, Israel
The Orbiter drone inside the Aeronautics Defense Systems factory in Yavne, Israel.
Airport City, Israel
A thermal-imaging system on display at an conference for Israeli defence-technology companies held two months after the 2014 War in Gaza.
Beit Hannoun, Gaza
Palestinian children displaced by fighting during the 2014 War at a UN school.
Wadi al-Salqa, Gaza Strip.
Shrapnel damage at the site of an Israeli drone strike that killed a fifteen year old boy in 2012.
Near the Israel-Gaza Border, Southern Israel
An Aeronautics Orbiter 3 flies overhead during a demonstration put on by the company for foreign clients.
Near Airport City, Israel
Ground control stations used to pilot large drones, built inside of camouflaged shipping containers at IAI’s main production facility.
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Military Tactical Ground Robot, made by the Israeli company Roboteam, during a demonstration at their factory.
Gaza City
A protective suit worn by Palestinian explosive ordinance disposal technicians, on display inside a police station.
Jabalia Refugee Camp, Gaza
Muhamed al-Silawi holds his son on their roof. Muhamed survived a drone strike that targeted a mosque in 2009, killing at least 15 persons and injuring many more.
"The concept of the drone has become like someone who physically exists inside our houses. Like if we would like to have our breakfast we leave space for someone to eat, the drone is exactly the same - it exist in every single detail in our daily life.
And for me as a father who should protect his sons from any danger, I'm trying always to do something to lessen the fear for my children, and get them to focus on something else, when they hear the sound of the drone."
Gaza City