Heth route is the name given by the Israeli defense establishment

Israeli Security Forces

Security forces in Israel include a variety of organizations, including law enforcement, military, paramilitary, governmental, and intelligence agencies.-Military:...

 to refer the route used by terrorists and smugglers to penetrate into Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. The name given to this route stems from the Hebrew letter Heth

Heth

-People:* Children of Heth, a Canaanite nation in the Hebrew Bible, purportedly named after Heth, son of Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah* figures in the Book of Mormon:** Heth , an early Jaredite** Heth a later Jaredite...

 which resembles the shape of the route.

The route starts from the Gaza Strip

Gaza Strip

thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...

, goes through secret Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels below the Philadelphi Route

Philadelphi Route

The Philadelphi Route refers to a narrow strip of land, 14 km in length, situated along the border between Gaza Strip and Egypt. Under the provisions of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979, the buffer zone was controlled and patrolled by Israeli forces. After the 1995 Oslo Accords,...

, then goes through the Sinai Peninsula

Sinai Peninsula

The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa, effectively serving as a land bridge between two...

 (where occasionally the militants would receive assistance from Bedouin locals), and afterwards goes into Israel through a section of the Israeli–Egyptian border which has no security fence.

The route is mainly used by Bedouin smugglers, but also by armed militants seeking to carry out terror attacks, some of whom are caught by the Israeli Border Police

Israel Border Police

The Israel Border Police is the gendarmerie and border security branch of the Israel National Police. It is also commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Magav , meaning border guard, whilst its members are colloquially known as Magavnikim . Border Guard is often used as the official name of the...

.

On January 29, 2007 (Eilat bakery bombing

Eilat bakery bombing

The Eilat bakery bombing occurred on 29 January 2007 when a Palestinian suicide bomber from the Gaza Strip infiltrated the northern suburbs of Eilat, Israel...

) and on August 18, 2011 (2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks

2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks

On August 18, 2011, a series of cross-border attacks with parallel attacks and mutual cover was carried out in southern Israel on Highway 12 near the Egyptian border by a squad of presumably 12 militants in four groups...

), terrorist attacks were carried out in southern Israel by perpetrators who got into Israel through this route.