More than one thousand tank shells have been stolen from a military base in southern Israel, according to Israeli national television. The theft was committed by a group of thieves who wanted to sell the shells as scrap metal, preliminary investigations confirmed. The group managed to break into the base hundreds of times without being noticed. A spokesman of the Israeli army said that investigation is ongoing. A senior officer in Southern Command described the event as a major security failure and said that the shells could reach Palestinian organizations.