Hamas is working relentlessly to re-arm itself and develop new and better weapons in order to attack Israel.
By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News
The Hamas terror organization, which controls the Gaza Strip, continues with its military build-up and development, test-firing its domestically produced rockets.
Hamas terrorists show the M-75 home-made rocket in a military parade. (Wissam Nassar/Flash90)
In the latest related incident, Hamas fired two rockets into the Mediterranean Sea Monday morning in an apparent exercise, Israel’s 0404 news site reports.
The test-firing of rockets has become almost a daily occurrence. The terror organization is working diligently to replenish its stockpile of weapons and rockets in order to regain the military power it had lost during Operation Protective Edge. The IDF has reportedly eliminated most of Hamas’ missiles cache during the summer campaign, cutting down its number of rockets by 70 percent.
In the past, Hamas had smuggled weapons and rockets through its network of tunnels coming in from the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt has changed its policy regarding the tunnels and has launched an operation to destroy them. Egyptian military forces have destroyed dozens of such tunnels since Operation Protective Edge.
The IDF military operations, together with the Egyptians’ actions, have effectively cut Hamas off from any real possibility of replenishing their rocket arsenal from abroad. Iran has tried to arm Hamas in the past, but with no way to smuggle them into the Gaza Strip, Hamas has turned to rely primarily on its domestic military industry.
Furthermore, Sudan, which has served as a relay point for arms on their way to Gaza in the past, has ceased to serve such a function.
The IDF has recently thwarted several attempts by Hamas to smuggle rocket-building materials into the Strip by land and sea, including liquid fiberglass used to manufacture rockets and mortars, and special “metallurgical coke” coal used as fuel in firing furnaces to forge metals.
“Hamas has returned to producing rockets at a faster pace than in the past, but they do not use standard materials or a proper assembly line and therefore are required to test their rockets,” an Israeli security official stated in February.