Katz instructs IDF to declare Israel-Egypt border area a closed military zone over drone smuggling threat

Defense Minister Israel Katz says he has instructed the IDF to declare the Israel-Egypt border area a closed military zone and adjust its open-fire rules, in light of the ongoing drone threat in the area.

The IDF has yet to announce any new closed military zones along Israel’s 200-kilometer-long border with Egypt.

In the past year, there have been frequent attempts to bring weapons and drugs over the Egyptian border using drones. Yesterday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir instructed the military to focus efforts and resources on countering the threat.

Katz also held a meeting yesterday with IDF, police, and Shin Bet officials on the matter.

During the meeting, Katz “instructed the IDF to turn the area adjacent to the border into a closed military zone and to adjust the rules of engagement in order to strike any unauthorized party that penetrates into the prohibited area, in order to hit the operators and smugglers of the drones,” according to his office.

Katz’s office also says that the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research & Development and the Israeli Air Force will develop new “technological solutions” to counter the drone threat, and the National Security Council will assist with changing licensing requirements and legislative amendments regarding the use, purchase, and possession of drones.

The defense minister also spoke with Shin Bet chief David Zini on the matter, and it was agreed that the security agency will “define the issue of weapon smuggling threats via drones on the Israel–Egypt border as a terrorist threat,” which will enable security bodies to use “appropriate tools to combat the threat,” Katz’s office says.