IDF intercepts 130 smuggling drones from Egypt last month – but thousands of weapons remained undetected

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) thwarted 130 attempts to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Israel via drones last month, the military said. However, military sources acknowledged that hundreds of other drones remained undetected.

Attempts to smuggle weapons via drones over the Egyptian border have escalated in recent months, causing Defense Minister Israel Katz to order the creation of new military zones along the border.

But according to several reports by Israeli media outlets, the order has not yet been implemented.

A report by Army Radio said that senior IDF officers already have the authority to set up closed military zones and use them when necessary, but that this isn’t effective when drone operators and the receiving parties are located hundreds of meters and up to several kilometers from the border.

Nevertheless, the IDF said that troops of the 80th Division and the Israeli Air Force thwarted approximately 130 drone smuggling attempts, confiscating 85 weapons items were confiscated, including 2 machine guns, 16 long-barreled weapons, and 66 pistols.

According to the Jerusalem Post, military sources say that the 130 drones intercepted last month are an improvement by around 50%.

The weapons reach a variety of customers in Israel, ranging from criminal gangs to Hamas in Gaza or terror groups in Judea and Samaria.

The IDF refused to answer a question by Ynet whether weapons have indirectly or directly made their way to Hamas.

Army Radio said the military saw a decrease in smuggling attempts last month to “only” about two attempts per day. However, recent months saw as many as 20 attempts per day, meaning that thousands of weapons, drugs and ammunition were smuggled successfully.

The IDF said it will open a new designated operations center to improve and coordinate the synchronization of information between intelligence and the troops operating across the vast expanses of the Negev and Sinai deserts, which makes smuggling attempts very difficult to intercept.

IDF Lt.-Col. “Y” told the Jerusalem Post the military is trying to strengthen security along the relatively quiet, and therefore often neglected, border.

“Tactical forces within the battalion act in coordination with lookouts, advanced identification technologies, and different battle tactics. Their [collective] purpose is to locate and stop any drone that threatens security,” Y explained.

“We continue to adapt our activities and train our forces to ensure the security of the residents of the area,” Y added.

The IDF told media outlets in a recent briefing that most smuggling is conducted only by around 100 to 300 Israeli Arabs who “buy large drones intended solely for agriculture – mainly for crop spraying – apply minor modifications and order them easily without supervision or restrictions.”

Drones used in these operations can carry up to 70 kilograms (150 pounds) each.

“In Egypt, by comparison, it is prohibited to buy or fly drones at all, meaning all drones used in these smuggling operations come from the Israeli side,” Ynet cited military officials.

According to the report, the weapons now mostly come from North African and Mediterranean countries. They include Chinese variants of Western weapons, like M16 rifles.

Ynet quoted an IDF official who explained: “A large, expensive drone costs 150,000 shekels, maybe a bit less, so they don’t care if they lose one during a smuggling run we manage to thwart.”

“If in another successful run they make about a million shekels from the drugs or weapons they manage to transfer, it’s worth it.”