With the Israel Defense Forces being heavily criticised by the international community for the use of live-fire against the recent mass protests in Gaza, it has turned to a new tool to disperse angry crowds – putrid stench.

Israel’s Defense Ministry has developed the so-called Shoko drone that can douse rioters in foul-smelling liquid from a payload of plastic baggies.

The baggies filled with a noxious brown liquid look remarkably like a popular Israeli chocolate drink called Shoko in shape and texture, leading to plenty of toilet humor as to the potential contents of the non-lethal crowd control substance.

In fact, the nylon bags are filled with a liquid known as skunk water, concocted from a secret recipe including yeast, baking powder, and water. According to the BBC, Palestinians who have been sprayed with skunk water describe it as “worse than raw sewage” and “like a mixture of excrement, noxious gas, and a decomposing donkey.”

Gaza Protests
Palestinian demonstrators run for cover from Israeli fire and tear gas during a protest at the Israel-Gaza border REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Invented by the Israeli firm Odortec, skunk water was first used in the Occupied West Bank in 2008 and armored vehicles have been fitted with water cannon to douse demonstrators with the noxious liquid and can induce nausea but have no long-term effects even in cases of a direct hit.

The drones were developed by the Defense Ministry's Research and Development Agency within a matter of weeks to counter the weekly protests at the Gaza border with Israel.

Drones have been widely deployed in the recent spate of violent confrontations between Palestinian protestors and the Israel Army - which left 60 dead and more than 2,000 injured earlier this week – flying over the crowds dropping tear gas canister and to defend against “fire kites” used to start blazes in crop fields on the Israeli side of the border.