The Israel Defense Ministry says its inspectors blocked 1,226 attempts to bring forbidden materials into Gaza in 2016.
The ministry’s Crossing Authority released its statistics Sunday on operations carried out against smuggling attempts to bring contraband into Gaza.
There was a 165 percent increase in smuggling attempts at the Gaza border crossings in 2016, as compared with 2015, with much of the goods believed to have been intended for delivery to the Hamas terrorist organization and other terror groups in Gaza.
Goods seized by Crossing Authority inspectors included drones, model airplanes, communications equipment, dis-assembled pickup trucks, engines, spiral welding equipment, anti-freeze, security cameras, water pumps, lasers, iron pipes, aluminum, steel columns, abseiling equipment, metal cells, adhesives, diving suits and scuba diving gear.