Israeli customs and security officials announced they were successful in apprehending a shipment of diving suits intended for Hamas terror commandos in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is working extensively to cultivate a naval force, including commandos whose mission is to infiltrate Israel through its beaches.
Customs officers at the Nitzana border crossing in the country’s south along with Shin Bet security service agents found the scuba suits in a shipment going to Gaza via Israel. While the import documents stated that the shipment to the Strip was supposed to contain a large number of sports suits, a thorough examination by officers at Nitzana border crossing revealed that 40 diving suits had been included in the transport as well, a commodity which requires special permits.
The customs suspected that the attempted smuggling of diving suits to the Strip was initiated by the Hamas terrorist group in order to build up the organization’s naval forces, which include commandos tasked with carrying out attacks against Israeli targets across the border. On July 8, 2014, during last summer’s 50-day war between Israel and and the Gaza-based terrorist organization, four Hamas divers were killed in an aborted infiltration attempt a kilometer north of the border, near Kibbutz Zikim.
The Israeli customs directorate also reported that during routine physical examination two weeks ago at Ben Gurion International Airport, customs officers intercepted a number of rings stamped with IS logos and iconography, reportedly in a Turkish shipment bound for Ramallah.
The rings were found among several hundred other pieces of jewelry. “The rings are considered banned propaganda and are therefore prohibited for import. They are banned, have been transferred for destruction and information passed on to the relevant security forces.”
