A civilian accompanying an IDF force shot and killed a Negev Bedouin suspected of smuggling along the Egypt border on Wednesday. The civilian acted alongside the military force in violation of orders. The army did not inform the public of the incident until media reports emerged later in the evening.
The IDF has opened an investigation into the serious circumstances of the incident and is examining whether the civilian attached to the force was the one who fired the fatal shots.
In a statement, the IDF said that gunfire was carried out Tuesday night at suspects in the Nitzana area. According to the initial inquiry, after completing a planned operation and while outside their designated sector, an IDF soldier and a civilian were returning in a civilian vehicle when they identified several masked suspects during a smuggling attempt.
The initial probe found that after the suspects were identified, the civilian opened fire using his personal weapon and the soldier’s weapon, aiming at the suspects’ vehicle tires. The vehicle veered off its path, and one suspect was wounded. He was evacuated to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. The conduct of the mission is under review, and the civilian’s actions are being examined by a joint investigative team of the Military Police and Israel Police.
Smuggling on the rise
Over the past year, smuggling from Egypt has increased, and residents along the border have grown accustomed to the buzzing of dozens or even hundreds of drones overhead at all hours. “This whole area was a drone highway. Some flew low, some high. They would arrive wherever the smuggler wanted,” Idan Bismut, security coordinator for the Ramat Negev Regional Council, said last month during a tour of the Nitzana corridor.
At a Knesset committee discussion on communities along the eastern border, held amid the growing phenomenon of drone smuggling from Egypt and along the porous Jordan border, the commander of the police’s Magen unit said authorities were working jointly with the IDF and Shin Bet. “There are many things we cannot detail,” he said, calling for a closed session. “The phenomenon exists and is intensifying. They have no obstacles, unlike us. They are always several steps ahead, and by the time the state catches up, they have already slipped away.”
First published: 21:57, 12.25.25