Israel Matzav

At 3:40 a.m. on May 3, a Davor navy ship spotted a suspicious fishing boat crossing from Egyptian waters into the fishing water off the Gaza Strip coast.

Palestinian fisherman are not allowed to enter the IDF-designated buffer zone around Rafah and Gaza, which encompasses several hundred meters.

The navy ship called out for the Palestinian boat to stop. When the boat attempted to evade the navy patrol, the navy opened fire. The Palestinian boat hid behind another fishing boat, and the crew began to heave large sacks into the water.

The navy commander decided not to pursue the boat and ceased fire from fear that innocent Palestinian fisherman in the vicinity would be harmed. The fishing boat then slipped away into a crowd of hundreds of Palestinian craft.

Two days ago, the navy sent an underwater retrieval unit to inspect the sacks' contents. A robot was sent down, located the sacks them at a depth of 30- meters, and took a sample. The thirteen sacks contained a total of 550 kilograms of TNT.

According to Maj. Oren Raba, head of the navy underwater retrieval unit, the explosives had been scavenged from dismantled mines. [Some of you may recall that until recently, this was how al-Qaida was getting explosives in Sinai. CiJ]

Col Yoram Lex, commander of the Ashdod Naval Base, said that the explosives could have been used to manufacture Kassam rockets to be employed in attacks on IDF troops. "This attempt is significant, since the high-quality explosives discovered could have been used in devastating terror attacks against Israel." Lex told The Jerusalem Post. According to a senior IDF officer, Palestinians in Gaza have recently encountered a shortage of TNT.