A Palestinian smuggler on the Egyptian border. (Fady Adwan/Flash90)

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IDF troops battled a drug smuggling operation on the Egyptian border, leave one Israeli injured.

By TPS

An IDF soldier was lightly injured Friday night while thwarting a drug smuggling operation on Israel’s border with Egypt.

IDF troops operating to thwart a drug smuggling operation on the Egyptian border found themselves in the vicinity of a violent exchange of fire between the smugglers and the Egyptian army.

An IDF vehicle in the area was hit in the shooting. An IDF soldier who was in the vehicle was lightly injured in the hand by shrapnel and was evacuated for medical treatment at a hospital.

Israeli forces periodically clash with smugglers on the border with Egypt, a major smuggling route for drugs, weapons and women into Israel.

Israel in recent years has built a fence along the Egyptian border to block the flow of work migrants coming to the country from Africa through Egypt.

The tall fence has also been helpful in slowing down the prolific smuggling trade from Egypt into Israel, mostly the work of local Bedouin tribes.