Facing a surge in weapon-laden drones from Egypt, Prime Minister Netanyahu orders an urgent inter-agency plan to eliminate cross-border smuggling and protect Israel’s southern frontier.
In a decisive move to fortify Israel’s southern defenses, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the Defense Ministry and all relevant security agencies to formulate a comprehensive plan within two months to eliminate weapons smuggling across the Egypt-Israel border.
The order follows an emergency Knesset session convened by the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee after a dramatic spike in drone-based weapons smuggling operations originating from Egyptian territory. The drones, many of them carrying arms and explosives, are believed to be supplying terror cells in the Negev and Judea regions — a development Israeli officials have described as “a new and deadly evolution in terrorism.”
During the closed portion of the meeting, security sources revealed that in the past two weeks alone, roughly 90 drones per week had attempted to cross into Israeli airspace, with half successfully intercepted.
MK Zvi Succot, who requested the emergency discussion, sounded a grave warning:
“The weapons smuggled from the Egyptian border are intended to seize IDF bases in the south. The enemy is arming itself from within our borders. This is not just smuggling — it’s preparation for the next October 7.”
Succot urged the immediate creation of a national task force uniting the IDF, Shin Bet, Mossad, and Israel Police to combat what he described as “an existential threat” to Israel’s internal security.
“If in the past we dealt with tunnels underground, today we face tunnels in the air,” he said. “These drones cross the border every night carrying weapons meant to harm Israelis. We cannot treat this lightly.”
According to Arutz Sheva – Israel National News, intelligence assessments presented to the committee show that Iran-backed networks may be facilitating the drone smuggling operations, exploiting Egypt’s vast desert border to funnel weapons and technology into the hands of local and West Bank terror groups.
Netanyahu’s directive signals a zero-tolerance approach and a demand for a coordinated inter-agency response, reflecting his longstanding insistence that Israel’s security must be proactive, not reactive.
A senior defense source confirmed that among the proposed countermeasures are:
- The establishment of a real-time drone interception network across the Negev;
- Deployment of new radar and anti-drone defense systems;
- Enhanced joint operations with Egyptian security forces to prevent cross-border infiltration.
Israel’s security establishment now views the drone threat as the next major front in asymmetric warfare — a shadow battle fought in the skies rather than beneath the ground.
As one senior IDF officer noted:
“We closed the tunnels in Gaza. Now we must close the sky over the Negev.”
