On January 3, 2002, Israeli commandos seized the Karine A, a Palestinian Authority (PA) owned and crewed ship that was loaded with over 50,000 tons of weapons.

The weapons were packed in special floating devices that were planned to be dropped off on the Gaza coast for smaller ships to pick them up and transport them to the PA. The ship was boarded some 500 kilometers off the shores of Israel and was taken over by Shayetet 13 commandos in mere minutes.

Although Yasser Arafat denied connections with the ship, his close aide and Chief PA Financial Officer Fuad Shubaki was discovered to be the mastermind and organizer of the ship. Shubaki was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail.