Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Thursday that Israel will declare its border with Egypt a closed military zone in an effort to combat smuggling.
Israel has complained of smugglers in Egypt and Israel using drones to smuggle weapons and other restricted items from Sinai, possibly for use by terrorist groups such as Hamas. After a Wednesday night meeting with military and intelligence leaders, Katz said the decision had been made to close the border with Egypt and combat drones coming over the border.
The decision will “turn the border-adjacent area into a closed military zone and change the rules of engagement to strike drone operators and smugglers by targeting any unauthorized element penetrating the off-limits area,” Katz’s office said.
As part of the effort, the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research & Development and the Israeli Air Force would develop new “technological solutions” to counter drones, it added, while the National Security Council would be involved in changing regulations regarding the use, purchase, and possession of drones.
In a post on X, Katz directly connected the smuggling with the war in Gaza.
“Arms smuggling by means of drones is part of the war in Gaza and is intended to arm our enemies, and all measures must be taken to stop it,” he said. “Today we are declaring war on those involved in the smuggling – and anyone who enters the prohibited area will be struck.”
In his office’s statement, Katz was quoted as calling the situation “dangerous to the country’s security,” and threatening those engaged in smuggling.
“Deterrence must be created and it must be made clear to those engaged in smuggling that the rules of the game are changing, and they will pay a very heavy price if they do not cease,” he declared.
The subject of drone smuggling across the Egyptian border occupied multiple meetings on Wednesday, including one with Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir. At the meeting, he instructed the IDF to focus resources and efforts on countering drone smuggling.
The IDF said Zamir expressed, “in his view, the drone threat is not merely a criminal threat but a security threat with terror potential, and emphasized the IDF’s and the defense establishment’s commitment to deepen the operational response while developing new operational capabilities.”
At Zamir’s meeting with military and intelligence officials, the group established a joint-agency task force to counter drones, directed resources towards long-term solutions regarding border smuggling, pledged to intensify intelligence-gathering efforts, and outlined the formation of a new combat unit dedicated to combating smuggling.
Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Israel’s minister for the development of the periphery, the Negev, and the Galilee, was quoted by the Jewish News Syndicate as welcoming the move.
“The border with Egypt has become a security and economic black hole, which harms primarily the Negev and the entire State of Israel. It is time to put an end to this,” he said.
Israel and Egypt share a nearly 130-mile border from the Gulf of Aqaba in the south to the Gaza Strip in the north. The entire border is covered by a barrier wall, constructed between 2010 and 2013. The construction of the barrier was triggered by concerns over smuggling and an influx of African migrants from Egypt.
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The use of drones shows the lengths smugglers have gone to adapt to the new circumstances. Military officials said that smugglers usually take up position on the Israeli side of the border, anywhere from one-half to three miles from the fence, fly drones over the barrier to a position a minimum of half a mile from the fence on the Egyptian side, then fly it back after conspirators in Egypt load the drone with contraband, the Times of Israel reported.
The crackdown on the border with Egypt doesn’t directly affect the fragile ceasefire with Hamas that brought an end to the destructive war in Gaza last month.