Israel: Breach prompted weapons smuggling

JERUSALEM, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- The head of the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, said Sunday the recent border breach allowed weapons to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip.

During a Cabinet security meeting, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin said the wall openings along the Egyptian border allowed large amounts of high-quality weapons to be moved into the Gaza Strip, Ynetnews.com reported.

The Shin Bet head said "it is difficult to determine the precise amounts, but a great deal of high-quality weaponry, including long-range rockets, antitank missiles and antiaircraft missiles, was smuggled into Gaza, and these are weapons that usually do not find their way into the strip."

Diskin also said the breach along the Philadelphi route likely allowed a number of trained militants to re-enter the Gaza Strip.

The Shin Bet chief's comments immediately prompted a call by Defense Minister Ehud Barak for repairs to the border fence.

Ynetnews.com reported Barak also suggested Israel stop all rocket attacks originating from the Gaza Strip and prepare to disengage from the area completely in the future.