New: Israel bans fiber-optic and SIM-controlled drones from civil airspace for six months amid increasing drone threats.

New: Israel bans fiber-optic and SIM-controlled drones from civil airspace for six months amid increasing drone threats.

Defense Minister Katz is expected to sign the directive following the approval of the Defense Cabinet.

The ban specifically targets drones controlled via fiber optic cables - immune to electronic jamming - and those operating on cellular networks using SIM cards.

The move comes after fiber-optic FPV drones, a tactic perfected in Ukraine and adopted by Hezbollah, have proven extremely difficult to combat - flying too low for radar, resistant to jamming and difficult to intercept.

The concerns also extend to potential use from the West Bank or against senior officials.

The security forces and operations approved by the Civil Aviation Authority are exempt. The temporary ban is intended to reduce the "noise" of civilian drones, so that it is easier to identify the hostile ones while developing long-range countermeasures (lasers, artificial intelligence targeting, kinetic interceptors).