JERUSALEM — The Palestinian Authority is receiving surface-to-air missiles meant to threaten Israel
military aircraft over the Gaza Strip, Israeli officials said.
The officials said the PA and its allies have acquired SA-7 surface-to-air
missiles from smugglers based in Egypt. They said the Palestinians have
acquired both missiles and launchers in deals financed by the
Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah, Middle East Newsline reported.
"They are acquiring an arsenal of SA-7s," an official said. "They don't
threaten fighter-jets, but helicopters could be vulnerable."
Officials said the Palestinian acquisition of SA-7s has reduced Israeli
manned air patrols over the Gaza Strip. Over the last year, they said,
Israel has increasingly used unmanned aerial vehicles, reserving helicopters
for strike missions in the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, Israel Security Agency director Yuval Diskin told the
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip have acquired at least 10 SA-7 launchers since September 2005. Diskin
said the launchers as well as missiles were smuggled from the Sinai.
In January 2005, officials said the PA had acquired at least five SA-7
launchers from the Sinai. Israel has not reported any SA-7 attacks in the
Gaza Strip.
Diskin said the PA and militias have been accumulating an arsenal for a
future conflict with Israel. He said that since Israel's withdrawal from the
Gaza Strip in September 2005, the Palestinians have also smuggled from Sinai
more than 10 tons of explosives, three million
rounds of rifle ammunition, 19,600 rifles, 1,600 pistols, 65
rocket-propelled grenade launchers and 430 RPGs.
On early Wednesday, the Israel Air Force struck missile production
facilities of the Popular Resistance Committees. The PRC, regarded as an
ally of Hamas, has been responsible for numerous missile strikes against
Israel from the northern Gaza Strip over the last year.
Officials said the Hamas-led PA has sought develop an indigenous variant
of the SA-7. They said the PA has overseen a weapons industry meant to
produce everything from light weapons and ammunition to rockets and missiles
in the Gaza Strip.
