Egyptian police intercepts 200 crates of weapons en route to Gaza
Three Bedouin arrested early Friday, admit to trying to smuggle nearly 200 crates of automatic weapons, ammunition from Egypt into Gaza through tunnel
Three Bedouin were arrested and later admitted they were trying to smuggle the weapons from Egypt into Gaza, police said.
The smugglers were heading north to the village of Sheik Zuwayed, where they planned to veer off-road toward the border, north Sinai police Captain Essam Rizk said. The Bedouin confessed to police that they planned to smuggle the weapons to Palestinians through underground tunnels in the border town of Rafah, Rizk said.
Israel pulled out of Gaza last year, turning control of the coastal strip’s borders over to Palestinian and Egyptian officials. Since then, Israel has said smuggling of weapons and explosives across the Egypt-Gaza border has increased.
The Israeli army launched an offensive into Gaza after the June 25 capture of an Israeli soldier by Hamas-linked militants. It broadened its operations there this week, with Israeli troops taking up positions along parts of the Egypt-Gaza frontier for the first time since last year’s withdrawal.
Lieutenant Colonel Yossi Drori, a battalion commander in the Givati Brigades said Thursday, “We can estimate that dozens and even hundreds of tunnels have been dug along the Philadelphi route.”
Drori and his troops worked together along with other forces and uncovered eight tunnels in an area of about 300 meter’s length in the past few days.
Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter complained to White House officials on Wednesday about Egypt's carelessness in dealing with arms smuggling from Sinai into the Gaza Strip. In talks with National Security Advisor Steve Hadley, Dichter urged Washington to apply pressure on Cairo to do more to seal its border with the Gaza Strip.
"The Egyptians can and have to do a lot more to prevent the smuggling of arms to the Gaza Strip," Dichter said upon leaving the White House. "The Americans don't know the scope of the smugglings and the Egyptians' capabilities. I believe that the Egyptians have considerable capabilities to make sure that the smugglings are prevented and that's what I said."
