Adedokun Waliyu 
The US officials have reportedly said that the US military experts have advised their Israeli counterparts on lessons learned from urban combat in Iraq.
The United States’ Defence Department has confirmed that some unmanned spy planes have been deployed to Gaza in Palestine in search of hostages as the Israeli-Hamas war continues to rage.
USA Today reports that the Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement that the unmanned spy plane flights began after the October 7 Hamas attacks that killed 1,400 people.
Hamas also seized some 239 hostages in the attacks, including US citizens.
Flights of US Air Force Reaper drones indicate deeper involvement by the U.S. military in the conflict than previously acknowledged.
The US officials have reportedly said that the US military experts have advised their Israeli counterparts on lessons learned from urban combat in Iraq.
Drones have the ability to feed video and still footage from surveillance sensors to forces involved in hostage rescue attempts.
A retired Army two-star general and intelligence chief for U.S. Central Command, Mark Quantock, is said to have said that drones have a multitude of capabilities including the ability to collect signals intelligence, from push-to-talk radios to cell phones.
He added that they can monitor activity around the known and suspected entrance to tunnels used by Hamas militants.
Quantockwas quoted as saying that “One can never have too much intelligence collection,” adding that “Drones supplement other ongoing terrestrial, airborne and space collections and it is vitally important.”
A retired Air Force intelligence officer with extensive experience in the Middle East, Scott Murray, said that the intelligence could be used to establish “pattern of life at suspected hostage locations,”pointing out that that information could be valuable to help locate hideouts and to plan rescue operations.
Murray added that the drones might also carry LiDAR sensors, and that those sensors use laser pulses to create three dimensional imagery of ground surfaces, including buildings and vegetation.
Murray said that information could be used to create models of the structures and vegetation at the site where hostages are thought to be held.
Separately, the Pentagon reportedly continues to bolster its forces in the Middle East.
On Friday, the Navy was said to have announced two aircraft carrier strike groups, the USS Gerald Ford and USS Dwight Eisenhower, have been conducting joint operations in the eastern Mediterranean. The carriers carry dozens of warplanes and their escort vessels include ships that fire guided missiles.
The Pentagon ordered the ships to the region as a warning to adversaries such as Iran and its proxy forces not to attack Israel and broaden the war.
There are about 11,000 sailors aboard the ships.
Earlier in the week, the Pentagon announced that 300 more troops would be sent to the Middle East, joining thousands of others who arrived since the October 7 attack.
The latest deployment includes troops skilled in defusing and disposing of explosives.
Since October 17, Iranian-backed militias have launched 28 attacks against bases housing U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria.
