Direct proof of use
The Zuwari explosive unmanned aircraft is directly documented in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War through both Israeli-attributed reporting and Al-Qassam's own public claims. Associated Press reported, citing an Israeli military official familiar with Hamas's arsenal, that the explosives-laden Zuwari drone was used on October 7, 2023 to strike Israeli observation towers and disable cameras.
Al Jazeera reported on October 8, 2023 that Al-Qassam Brigades announced the Zuwari suicide drone had entered service during the attack it called Al-Aqsa Flood. The same report attributed to Al-Qassam the claim that its air arm used 35 Zuwari suicide drones across the axes of fighting as fire preparation for fighters crossing into Israel.
Sources: AP Hamas Weapons Investigation, Al Jazeera Zuwari Drone Report
Timeline
On October 7, 2023, the Zuwari appeared in accounts of Hamas's opening drone package. AP later reported that an Israeli military official identified Zuwari drones among Hamas's locally produced weapons and said they struck observation towers and knocked out cameras that day.
On October 8, 2023, Al Jazeera carried Al-Qassam's announcement that the Zuwari suicide drone had joined the operation and that 35 were used. The report also noted that Al-Qassam had previously publicized Zuwari reconnaissance-drone footage about two years earlier, separating earlier surveillance use from the suicide-drone claim made during the 2023 war.
On August 23, 2024, Al Mayadeen, sourcing the claim to Palestinian Resistance Military Media, reported that Al-Qassam launched a locally produced al-Zouari one-way attack drone at an Israeli field command-and-control center in the Netzarim Axis at 7:30 p.m. local time.
Sources: AP Hamas Weapons Investigation, Al Jazeera Zuwari Drone Report, Al Mayadeen Netzarim Zuwari Report
Operational role
The cited Zuwari uses fit the broader pattern of Hamas-led drone employment at the start of the war: small unmanned systems were used as part of a coordinated assault rather than as isolated launches. Perspectives on Terrorism described the October 7 attack as using drones in a central role within a combined-arms assault, including strikes on sensitive defensive systems with drone-delivered munitions.
The Zuwari record should be read separately from commercial-quadrotor attacks also documented on October 7. INSS described Hamas drones striking communications-tower generators and IDF observation posts, but its examples focus on small drones and online footage rather than identifying every airframe as Zuwari. For the Zuwari specifically, the strongest direct evidence remains AP's Israeli-attributed statement about observation-tower and camera strikes, Al-Qassam's announced 35-drone use, and the later attributed Netzarim launch claim.
Sources: ICCT Hamas Drone Attack, INSS Hamas Drones, AP Hamas Weapons Investigation, Al Jazeera Zuwari Drone Report, Al Mayadeen Netzarim Zuwari Report
