Commercial photography drones costing as little as $3,000 have become a key tool for the Israeli military to depopulate swathes of Gaza, according to a new investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call, Al Jazeera reports.

The report found that the “majority of Israeli military companies” in Gaza now use the drones, which have been retrofitted with military attachments known as “iron balls” that allow soldiers to drop a grenade with the press of a button.

The drones are deployed routinely to force people to leave or prevent them from returning to an evacuated area, with testimony from soldiers suggesting that innocent civilians are routinely targeted.

“It was clear that they were trying to return to their homes — there’s no question,” one soldier explained, adding that their bodies were left to be eaten by dogs. “None of them were armed, and nothing was ever found near their bodies. We never fired warning shots. Not at any point.”

“Two sources used variations of the phrase ‘learning through blood’ to describe the army’s expectation that Palestinians will come to understand these arbitrary boundaries after civilians are killed upon entering the area,” the report said.

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