M16 assault rifles and ammunition recovered from a drone smuggling operation along the Israel-Egypt border in April 2025. (IDF)
After many months of delay, the IDF has a name for the aerial highway along the Egyptian border: “a large-scale campaign to arm the area.” It was a late ignition—a natural awakening—after enormous quantities of weapons were transferred into the State of Israel. The current pace is still insane: two tons of ammunition per month.
The affair is as mysterious as it is vast. The main party responsible on the Egyptian side of the border (or, as the IDF diplomatically calls it, “the western border”) has not yet been identified. But recently, Southern Command issued an order to treat every smuggling attempt as a security incident unless proven otherwise.
The absurdity is that the drones seen crossing the border toward Israel were purchased in Israel. After all, there are none in Gaza, and in Egypt it is forbidden to purchase a drone weighing more than a quarter of a kilo. Only in Israel is the law not enforced and buyers not registered.
Behind the operation are Bedouin with blue ID cards, unlimited money and access to technology. Their drone skills surpass those of any parallel unit in the army, and the absurdity is that although the event is defined as a security incident, the perpetrators are Israeli citizens—which limits the ability to act against them.
The assumption in the IDF is that the Iranians are operating this vast network. There is simply no way to explain who would need such quantities for personal criminal consumption.
Where is it going? For a long time, there was an attempt to determine whether the weapons end up in the hands of crime families in the Triangle, terrorists in Judea and Samaria, or Hamas killers in Gaza. But in practice, it doesn’t matter. If the goal is to undermine stability, any answer is correct and desirable for the Iranians.
In any case, Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2021 already proved that the line between criminal and nationalist activity is blurred and porous—about as porous as the Israel–Egypt border.
For now, it is doubtful that the weapons are reaching Judea and Samaria, where rifle prices remain high. Some of it is certainly going to Gaza. Two months ago, a drone en route from Israel to Sinai was intercepted. Soldiers found advanced diving equipment on it. Clearly, the goal was to smuggle weapons into Gaza.
Why not directly from Israel to Gaza? Because that way, even if the smugglers are caught, they can claim it is criminal activity rather than a security offense. As is well known, the criminal activity of Arab crime families is not at the center of law enforcement attention.
This is an excerpt from my weekly column in Israel Hayom.
