The Israeli army’s Bedouin tracker unit started Friday large-scale drills along the border of Gaza aimed at training to detect and deal with tunnels and cross-border infiltration incidents during war-like conditions.
According to the army radio these large-scale military drills will last for two weeks along the border with Gaza and simulate the occurrence of underground incursions and fence breaches during a war.
Rabie Sawa’id is the chief tracker who commands a small unit of Negev Bedouin soldiers who use their field craft skills to serve as the Jewish state’s gatekeepers along the Gaza borderline.
He told the radio that almost no operational activity is carried out by the Israeli army on Gaza border without soldiers from his unit being ahead of other patrol troops.
The Israeli army has recently stepped up attempts to recruit soldiers from impoverished Bedouin communities in order to use them as scouts especially during military advances to protect Israeli troops.
