Sixteen Tons, And What Do You Get?

This July, Israeli customs inspectors discovered, in a large shipment of plaster being sent from Turkey to Gaza, sixteen tons of ammonium chloride, a substance used as an explosive in rockets. Rockets built in Gaza by Hamas, the intended recipient of the ammonium chloride, have only one conceivable target — Israeli civilians in towns abutting the Gaza border.

More on this gigantic smuggling attempt can be found here: “Israel says it found 16 tons of rocket-making substance headed from Turkey to Gaza,” Reuters, September 14, 2023:

Israel‘s customs authority said on Thursday it found 16 tons of material used for rocket production during an inspection of a shipment from Turkey headed to Gaza, which the ruling Hamas group dismissed as a fabrication.

Of course Hamas was indignant. How dare anyone accuse the terror group that rules Gaza of receiving smuggling substances that can be used to make explosives that will then be placed inside rockets to be hurled into Israel? When has Hamas ever fired a single rocket at anyone? Why does the “Zionist entity” keep carrying on about Hamas, when it’s the IDF that constantly bombards innocent Palestinian women and children in Gaza?

The customs authority said it had stopped for inspection in July two containers carrying 54 tons of what were supposed to be bags of plaster.

No doubt such a shipment raised a few eyebrows when it landed at the port of Ashdod. After all, it’s not every day that Muslim Turkey sends such a huge shipment to the ruling regime in Gaza — that is, the terror group Hamas. Israelis have not forgotten the last time the Turks tried to bring weapons into Gaza. That was in 2010, when the Turks on board the Mavi Marmara, one of a number of ships in a flotilla trying to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, were foiled by a group of Israel commandos who rappelled down from helicopters onto the deck of the ship, fought off the Turks who attacked them, and took control of the ship, forcing the crew to steer it into an Israeli port. All the weapons that the Turks had wanted to smuggle into Gaza were then laid out for the media to see: knives, slingshots, rocks, smoke bombs, metal rods, improvised sharp metal objects, sticks and clubs, 5KG hammers, firebombs and gas masks to be worn in case IDF forces used tear gas to disperse Palestinians in Gaza should they violently attack IDF soldiers.

A lab test confirmed some of the bags contained ammonium chloride, the authority added, which it said was used by groups in Gaza “to produce rockets that are eventually launched towards Israel.”

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem described the report as “lies.”

Israel and Hamas — a widely designated terrorist organization — have fought several wars since 2008, with thousands of rockets fired from Gaza and Israel launching air strikes on the enclave.

Of course the charge that Hamas would be trying to smuggle into Gaza 16 tons of ammonium chloride in order to make rockets is “lies.” Who could suspect Hamas of wanting to shoot rockets at civilians in Israel? Just because it has been shooting thousands of those rockets intermittently for the past 20 years doesn’t mean it wants to continue doing so. The Zionists stop at nothing when they seek to blacken the image of Hamas.

With uncertainty growing over who will succeed 87-year-old Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas has stepped up efforts to attract support in the West Bank, a geographically separate territory which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state.

Earlier this month, Israel froze the export of commercial goods from Gaza for several days due to what it said was an attempt to smuggle explosives. Palestinians said the brief ban hit thousands of families.

For years, Hamas has been trying to smuggle weapons and explosives from Gaza to its own operatives in the West Bank, hidden in everything from toys to furniture. Hamas wants its fighters in the West Bank to be well-armed, not just in order to harm Israeli civilians, but also to establish their primacy over Fatah in the West Bank. The 16 tons of ammonium chloride were likely intended to be used in rockets to be shot into Israel from Gaza, but it is also possible that Hamas intended to manufacture small rockets that could then be smuggled to its men in the West Bank, and hurled into Israel from there or, should the need arise, at its Palestinian rivals in Fatah. 

But one thing is certain. The Hamas agents in Turkey who sent the shipment of explosives, and the intended Hamas recipients in Gaza, are out a pretty penny now that Israel has confiscated the entire 54-ton shipment — 16 tons of ammonium chloride and 38 tons of plaster. Sixteen tons, and what did they get? Another day older and, thanks to Israel’s detection and swift seizure, deeper in debt.