GESHER ADAM, West Bank — On the evening of August 24, Israeli security forces received information indicating that the smuggling of weapons from Jordan into the West Bank was going to take place within hours.
Police officers and Israeli troops staked out covert positions near a defunct bridge north of Jericho known as Gesher Adam, or the Damiyah Bridge, which once crossed the Jordan River, and lay in wait to ambush the gunrunners. Meanwhile, other forces searched the area, with support from Israeli Air Force aircraft and other surveillance systems.
As dawn broke, soldiers of the mixed-gender light infantry 47th “Lions of the Valley” Battalion, who had been scanning the border area all night, spotted two suspects and gave chase.
The pair, two Palestinians from Jericho in their 20s, were captured and questioned by police officers who joined up with the troops. The alleged smugglers then led the forces to a bag they had planted in the area to be picked up later, with 10 handguns inside.
Weapons smuggling is a constant challenge for Israel along its long, porous eastern border with Jordan. Unlike Israel’s other frontiers — with Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria — the border with Jordan is largely open aside from chain-link fencing, and guarding is limited, making it an easy channel for large-scale smuggling.
