Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to close the area along the Israel-Egypt border and adapt the rules of engagement, saying the move is aimed at stopping suspected weapons smuggling by drones.
On November 5, Katz held an emergency meeting with senior defense and security officials, including the heads of the military, the Shin Bet intelligence agency, and the National Security Council. Katz instructed the IDF to declare the border with Egypt a closed military zone and authorized firing on individuals who enter the restricted area to support drone operators or smugglers. “We are declaring war. Anyone who breaches the forbidden area will be attacked,” Katz stated.
Katz and Shin Bet chief David Zini agreed to seek a formal designation of drone-enabled weapons smuggling as a terrorism threat to give security agencies broader tools to respond. Katz noted that terrorism played a role in the smuggling, saying the drones “were a part of the war in Gaza and are intended to arm our [Israel’s] enemies. All measures must be taken to stop them.”
Since the meeting, the IDF has not announced changes to its rules of engagement at the Egyptian border, nor has it publicly declared the area a closed military zone.
The threat of arms smuggling by drones from Egypt is not new. On October 24, 2024, the IDF said that it successfully downed a drone carrying eight handguns and magazines that had crossed into Israeli territory from Egypt. The following month, the IDF said that it had downed a drone that was carrying rifles and ammunition from Egyptian territory.
While the IDF has reported some of these incidents, the number of drones crossing into Israeli territory may be significantly higher than what was previously known. According to a report in Ynet, nearly 900 incidents of drone smuggling from Egypt have been recorded over the past three months, almost twice the number from the same period last year. In addition to arms, cigarettes and drugs have also been smuggled.
There has been no official response from the Egyptian government to Katz’s declaration.
