TEL AVIV — Israel has stopped a shipment of TNT from Egypt bound for a Gaza port.
The Israeli military said it retrieved more than a half ton of TNT from
a boat that was sailing in the Mediterranean. The military said the episode
took place on May 3 when the boat sought to transport TNT from Egyptian
territorial waters to the Gaza Strip.
[On Wednesday, a Palestinian security delegation held talks with
Jordanian intelligence officials on the smuggling of Hamas weapons into the
Hashemite kingdom, Middle East Newsline reported. Hamas officials in the PA refused to attend the session
in Amman.]
An Israel Navy coastal surveillance facility spotted the boat, manned by
Palestinians, that was headed toward the Gaza town of Rafah from Egypt's
Sinai Peninsula. The military said the suspicious boat ignored warning shots
by navy patrol vessels.
Instead, the boat moved behind a Palestinian fishing vessel off the Gaza
coast as crew members dumped bags of weapons-grade TNT into the sea. The
military said the boat escaped to the Gaza shore.
Later, navy divers searched the floor of the Mediterranean and retrieved
11 bags. Altogether, the military said, the navy found 550 kilograms of TNT.
Military sources said this was the fourth time the navy foiled a
Palestinian attempt to smuggle weapons and explosives via the Mediterranean
since November 2005. They said the navy determined that in the latest
incident the boat arrived to the Gaza coast without any TNT.
The navy detained five Palestinian fishermen on suspicion of colluding
with the TNT boat. After questioning, Israeli authorities concluded that the
fishermen were not involved in the TNT smuggling and released.
The army said it was not clear who ordered or shipped the explosives.
Military sources said Hizbullah and Iran have sent weapons and explosives to
the Gaza and Sinai coasts for the Palestinian Authority and insurgency
groups.
