Israeli advanced chemical lab helps security forces stop a massive shipment of explosives en route to Gaza.
By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News
Israeli security forces recently caught a massive shipment of explosives-producing materials en route to terror groups in Gaza, the Ministry of Defense announced Wednesday. The truckload of material captured could have produced dozens of tons of explosives, the MoD said. A new advanced chemicals lab at the border discovered the dangerous substance before it could enter the Hamas-controlled enclave.
The Defense Ministry recent;y began operating the advanced chemistry lab at the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza with the objective of refining its capability to detect illicit materials on their way to terror groups in Gaza.
Shortly after it establishment, the lab tested a substance which was labeled as motor oil. The analysis revealed that the chemicals were in fact materials used to produce explosives.
The MoD emphasized that the new lab substantially improves its ability to detect materials terrorist groups are trying to smuggle into Gaza, while conducting the testing in a quick and efficient mater so as not to hold up the imports into the Strip.
The Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) and the Crossings Authority, together with the IDF’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Israeli Police and the Tax Authority, continue to fight persistent attempts to smuggle contraband into the Gaza Strip.
The Crossings Authority thwarted 1,226 attempts to smuggle contraband into Gaza in 2016, a 165% increase from 2015.
Smuggling attempts have increased each year since Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014.
Many of these smuggling operations have employed imaginative methods, including by sea and via Israel’s postal service. These attempts include the smuggling of everything from gun scopes to entire trucks.
Examples of items seized during thwarted smuggling attempts include drones and small UAVs, security cameras, dismantled vehicle parts, 4X4 engines and tires, lasers, rappelling equipment, professional-grade diving equipment to be used by Hamas’ commandos, communications equipment, car batteries, military clothing, dual-use fiberglass employed in terror-tunnel building, liquid polyester and adhesive material used for rocket building, spiral welding, aluminum and iron pipes, water pumps used for terror tunnels, metal pellets, steel rods and more materials used in the various stages of rocket and mortar production.