23 March 2020
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"Israel’s secretive Mossad intelligence agency launched a covert international operation this week to fly in up to 100,000 coronavirus testing kits, although the effort may have been in vain as critical parts were reportedly missing.
Domestic news outlets, citing government and health officials, reported that the secrecy of the operation was because the kits were acquired from at least two unnamed countries that do not have good diplomatic relations with Israel, meaning the government could not openly buy them.
...The Israeli news website Ynet had earlier quoted the health ministry deputy director general, Itamar Grotto, as saying the kits were missing swabs, which are used to take samples from the nose or the back of the throat.
“Unfortunately, what arrived is not exactly what we were lacking … Our problem is we’re missing swabs,” he said."
ISRAEL: Mossad bungles coronavirus test purchases: Israeli spies source up to 100,000 coronavirus tests in covert mission (The Guardian, link)
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