The IDF on Wednesday dispatched troops and aircraft to the border with Egypt — near the Israeli border community of Shlomit — after several white pickup trucks approached the area from the Egyptian side.
Military sources said the Israel Defense Forces contacted the Egyptian military to come and disperse the gathering, which had spooked Israeli civilians living in the area, as white pickup trucks have come to be associated with Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, when the terror group employed the vehicles as it broke through the border.
Wednesday was not the first time that pickup trucks have been spotted on the Egyptian side of the border in recent days, though the military has said there is no threat to Israeli residents.
Military officials told the local Eshkol Regional Council that “these are not unusual events and there is no security threat to residents.” However, the council told residents that it has “requested the involvement of the military and government authorities to act to move the gatherings away from the border and to increase vigilance in the area.”
The army stressed that those gathered on the Egyptian border were “unarmed civilians in sovereign Egyptian territory.”
“The IDF is monitoring developments in the border area and is preparing accordingly based on operational needs and security assessments,” the military added.
Again, even today and at a distance of 100 meters from the settlement of Shlomit – white vans on the Egyptian side. The army sprang to the scene, troops, a tank and also a combat helicopter. Betzhal emphasizes that these are unarmed civilians and explains that this was done in coordination with the Egyptians. This does not really reassure the residents pic.twitter.com/pShSR49Wsc
— almog boker (@bokeralmog) February 11, 2026
The recent truck sightings have occurred amid intensified IDF efforts to crack down on weapons smuggling across the border, including deploying a helicopter gunship for the first time ever to intercept a pair of drones in December.
Source:
www.timesofisrael.com