Gaza Terrorists Develop New Method for Smuggling Weapons

Israel’s security forces have exposed a new avenue Hamas terrorists use to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip – the Israeli postal service.

Border crossing officials at the Erez crossing into Gaza exposed dozen of smuggling attempts through the mail over the past weeks.

Israel’s security services have exposed and blocked several avenues used by terrorists for smuggling, by land and by sea, forcing them to develop new ones, Israel’s Defense Ministry stated Monday.

Tens of attempts to smuggle dismantled drones into Gaza through the mail were exposed and thwarted.

In the latest incident, officials found ten drone motors on Monday on their way to Hamas. The drones can be used for reconnaissance.

A rifle scope caught on its way to Gaza. (Israel’s Border Crossing Authority)

Officials uncovered rifle scopes, precision devices, range amplifiers for cellular communications, video transponders, receivers and other devices used in for terrorism purposes.

Israel confiscated the equipment and launched an investigation to locate those involved in the smuggling attempts.

Israel’s combined security agencies have been successful in thwarting more than 500 attempts to smuggle illicit materials from Israel into the Gaza Strip since the beginning of 2015. Over 280 trucks have been confiscated as a result of illegal activity over the course of 2014.

In many of the incidents, the smuggled materials are meant for Hamas’ rocket production program or its military build-up.

Most recently, Israeli authorities were successful in thwarting an attempt to smuggle pipes used to produce mortars and rockets and tens of motors used by Hamas to dig its terror tunnels.

Earlier in the month, Israel’s police announced it had thwarted an attempt to smuggle 60,000 springs used in the production of grenades, mortars and rockets, before they arrived at their destination in Gaza.

Israeli authorities were also successful in foiling an attempt to smuggle chemicals into the Gaza Strip, which would have been used to produce hundreds of long-range rockets.

In February, they thwarted an attempt to smuggle several drones into Gaza.

Since Israel decimated Hamas’ terror infrastructure during Operation Protective Edge, Hamas has been working relentlessly to rehabilitate its networks and replenish its weapons stockpiles.

By: Max Gelber, United with Israel

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