The Israeli Navy intercepted on multiple occasions weapons building material headed to Gaza, the Jerusalem Post reports.
A senior navy commander described Hamas’ strategies to smuggle weapons into Gaza, saying the terror group launches rockets into the sea every few days for experimentation. Hamas is focusing on building more weapons following the 50-day conflict with Israel.
Cmdr. Eli Soholitski told the Jerusalem Post that Israel is monitoring every launch Hamas performs and tracking attempts to smuggle weapons via the Mediterranean Sea.
"We continue to see attempts to smuggle weapons or material to build them. The sea is a very convenient platform for smuggling.
The terrorists still have one big smuggling tunnel, and it’s called the Mediterranean," said Soholitski.
Asked if the blockage of smuggling tunnels that linked Sinai to Gaza could lead to an increase in naval-smuggling attempts, Soholitski answered in the affirmative.
"In the end, our area of coverage is very big. This requires us to be professional and ensure that smuggling doesn’t happen. We need to invest in technological resources to achieve this and in people. There are no computers that can do this job without the eyes of a navy controller. Nothing is automatic. People are central to all of this," he said.