Israel busts Hamas gun runner off Gaza coast

The Israeli Navy arrested a Hamas-affiliated smuggler off the coast of Gaza last month, who is accused of bringing weapons and illegal building materials into the Strip, the Shin Bet security service reveals.

Salim Jamal Hassan Naman, a resident of the al-Shati refugee camp, admitted to interrogators that he’d been involved in a naval smuggling operation for some time and had helped bring in weaponry and “materials used in the production of rockets,” the security service says in a statement.

Naman, 39, was picked up by IDF sailors after his boat “deviated from the approved sailing area,” the Shin Bet says in a statement.

“The information revealed in this interrogation, along with the interrogations of the other Hamas terror operatives who have been arrested recently, reveal another aspect of the numerous efforts made by Hamas in order to prepare itself for advancing its violent terrorist actions,” the Shin Bet says.

“This time, it’s through taking advantage of the relief provided by Israel for the population of Gazan fisherman,” the security service says, referring to an easement of the blockade surrounding the coastal enclave that Israel agreed to last month.

— Judah Ari Gross