Drones emitting baby cries: another Israeli tactic to terrorize Gazans

BarcelonaIsraeli army drones have been flying constantly over Gaza for years, monitoring the population's every movement and firing remotely, both inside and outside combat zones. But in the current genocidal operation in Gaza, it has been widely documented that they are also being used as an instrument of psychological terror, particularly in areas where civilians have been forced to seek refuge. The low-flying unmanned aircraft have been equipped with loudspeakers that play the sound of a baby crying, women's cries for help, dogs barking, ambulance sirens, or the roar of shelling.

"We usually hear them at midnight, sometimes every night, sometimes once a week. They cause panic, especially among children. I once saw a drone broadcast a woman's scream, and a group of neighbors came out of their house to see what was happening. While they were outside, it went off, and the same drone shot at them." on the ARA Khaled from Al-Karama, a town in northern Gaza, near the border with Israel. "I've also heard dogs barking, and once, even the screams of an ice cream vendor," she adds. Testimonies like these have been repeated since April of last year in many parts of the Strip.

Maha Hussaini, a researcher with the NGO Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, recorded a drone transmitting the cry of a baby on July 5 in the neighborhood where she lives in Gaza City. "You'd say it was a real baby until you hear the sound approaching the window and realize it's another quadcopter trying to trick people into leaving their homes." Hussaini tells ARA that she has experienced this same situation many times.

Quadcopters are a type of small drone (less than one meter in diameter) so named because they have four propellers that allow them to fly at low altitudes without making any noise. They are easily maneuverable and can remain stationary in one place. They can be equipped with cameras, speakers, explosives, or machine guns.

Kamal Adana, a former police officer from the town of Jabalia who has had to take refuge in Gaza City and who saw his parents and nephew killed in a bombing in January, is also a witness: "It's happened many times: they use all kinds of sounds to deceive people and when the messages go out, when the WhatsApp messages go out. As Israel does not allow access to the independent international press in the Strip, we can only try to document what is happening through witnesses on the ground.

Euro-Med Monitor has documented so many cases that it speaks of a "systematic pattern": "The drones fly at low speed and draw circles over the houses or shops where displaced people live, before starting to emit alarming sounds specifically designed to terrorize and psychologically exhaust civilians." The report warns that these are not random noises but a deliberate strategy: "A strategy designed to mentally exhaust the civilians, pressuring them to leave while simultaneously deceiving them into a deadly trap. Drones emit specific sounds intended to evoke fear. They can open windows, balconies, or exit stores. When someone appears, the drone can open fire, transforming a basic human response into a calculated act of murder. Drones are both a physical and psychological weapon.

Mohamed Salameh, a resident of Al Rimal in central Gaza, told Euro-Med Monitor that in the early hours of the morning, they began hearing "horrible sounds of dogs attacking children, children screaming, a grandmother's cries, and then the children's screams again: it lasted for several minutes." Salameh was about to approach the window. "But at the last second, we realized the sounds were getting closer and further away, and then we saw the quadcopter hovering in front of the window." The witness admits that he now doesn't dare go outside when he hears screams in the street: "We are paralyzed by doubt and fear."

Several witnesses gathered by the NGO agree that these noises end up being more terrifying than the actual bombings. And that the psychological impact is devastating, especially on children and mothers trying to protect their children, because they provoke the feeling of being watched and a constant state of anxiety. "This terror infiltrates every corner of daily life and triggers episodes of panic in individuals and the entire community, especially in overcrowded areas, shelters, displacement camps, markets, or at aid distribution points, where there is no place to hide or flee."

Watched inside the home

Quadcopters have also been documented entering homes at night, taking advantage of the windows being empty due to explosions. A woman from Gaza City, whom the NGO prefers to remain anonymous to protect her from reprisals, recounts this in the report: "I was sleeping with my children in the apartment we rented in Al Rimal, after our house was destroyed. Since the windows are broken, we covered them with plastic, but we were lying on the floor in the dark and heard the unmistakable sound of a drone. I opened my eyes and saw it hovering over us. I panicked, but I stayed still and began to think it was going to shoot us. The woman says that ever since then, she has been terrified of going to bed."