Following military censor, IDF confirms operation and arrest of four Hamas militants last month; 24 drums of fiberglass materials seized in attempted smuggling from Sinai.
The Israel Defense Forces recently thwarted a smuggling attempt of missile manufacturing materials into the Gaza Strip. The IDF confirmed reports that were put under military censorship from last month of a Hamas operation to smuggle the materials by boat from the Sinai Peninsula. The IDF not only confirmed the operation but also released video footage of the successful mission. According to the IDF Spokespersons Unit, “The IDF thwarted a Hamas attempt to smuggle missile-manufacturing materials into Gaza” that included 24 drums of fiberglass materials. It also confirmed it arrested four Hamas militants during the operation.
Last week, reports claimed Hamas has replenished its rocket arsenal to over 10,000 as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad continue to smuggle and manufacture projectiles in the Gaza Strip with direct and financial assistance from Iran. Following a recent flare-up of over 700 rockets fired at Israel from the Strip in May, Hamas released a video claiming it could combat the Iron Dome anti-missile system, announcing “We employed a tactic of massive launches toward a single target to overcome Iron Dome,” and threatening “we have more surprises up our sleeve.” A spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, boasted at the time, “The Qassam Brigades, thanks to God, succeeded in overcoming the so-called Iron Dome by adopting the tactic of firing dozens of missiles in one single burst.”
The IDF hit over 350 Hamas and Palestinian Jihad in response, the Iron Dome reportedly intercepting 240 of the missiles fired from Gaza. Four Israelis were killed during the 72-hour conflict.
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