Israelis stop humanitarian aid truck filled with missile chemicals
TEL AVIV — Israel blocked an attempt to smuggle key components
for Palestinian missile production in the Gaza Strip.
Officials said the Israel Airports Authority detected and stopped a
truck from delivering chemicals used for the manufacture of missile warheads
and other explosives. They said the truck, certified to transport
humanitanian aid to Palestinians, was headed for the Gaza Strip.
The truck, filled with what was termed dual-use fertilizer, was stopped
at the Keren Shalom border crossing to the Gaza Strip. Officials said two
tons of bomb-making substances, driven by an Israeli, were seized on Monday, Middle East Newsline reported.
Also In This Edition
"There was enough material to manufacture 500 Kassams [short-range
missiles]," a security source said.
This was the second seizure in a week of bomb-making materials headed
for the Gaza Strip. In the previous attempt, Israeli authorities also
stopped a truck certified to transport humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Some models of fertilizer could be used in the explosive warhead of
rockets and missiles. Israeli authorities have been on alert for such
substances.
In a related development, the Palestinian Authority reported the capture
of an indigenous rocket and explosives. The PA said the cache was found in
the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
