Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli toured the Egpytian border on Sunday for several hours and was shocked by the staggering scope of drone infiltrations into Israel.

“Just finished several hours of a tour at the Nitzana Border Crossing during which at least 10 heavy drones crossed from Egyptian territory into Israel,” Chikli stated.

“Each such drone can carry four MAG machine guns or ten long weapons; that means 40 machine guns crossed into our territory in the course of only a two-hour tour. When I read the investigative report by Kol HaYehudi, I thought the description of dozens of drones per day was exaggerated—after the tour, I think it was an underestimate.”

“In the post-October 7 reality this incident should trigger 1,200 red lights,” Chikli warned. “There is action that can be taken as early as tomorrow morning against this phenomenon, and I will share the operational insights with all relevant parties.”

He added that “the drones being used are not the small, familiar models but upgraded logistic drones that can easily be bought online, such as the DJI Matrice 600 or M300 RTK, with a carrying capacity of ten long weapons/four machine guns and, of course, ammunition, drugs, or anything else.”

Chikli also shared a video posted on TikTok that was filmed “by militants on the Egyptian side”—featuring the security officer at Be’er Milka, an Israeli moshav close to the Egyptian video. “A very unsettling video,” he wrote.

Chikli posted photos of recent smuggling seizures, writing, “A minuscule percentage of an industrial-scale volume of dozens of entries per day from the Egyptian and Jordanian borders. A first-order strategic challenge.”

Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman addressed the issue on Monday, stating, “Last night I spoke with Ramat Negev Regional Council head Eran Doron, who told me that in the past month hundreds of drones crossed from Sinai into southern Israel. In the last 24 hours alone, about 25 drones were counted entering Israel from Egypt, and according to security estimates, most transfer weapons to gangs in the Negev, which are later sold to terror and criminal organizations across the country.

“Moreover, every night in villages like Bir Hadaj (a Bedouin village in the Negev) there are tests and trials of these smuggled devices, and firing from those weapons is heard for hours.”

“The government of Israel must wake up; at this rate, the concern that these weapons can be used against us is only a matter of time. Egypt cannot sit idly by either, and Israel must demand that it act immediately against the phenomenon on its side.”

Liberman declared that “the Yisrael Beiteinu party will raise the issue in the Knesset’s relevant committees and demand answers from government representatives. This is a security issue that cannot be ignored, and we will not relent until we get a response and the phenomenon is stopped.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)