Israel Police said Thursday that as many as 27,000 people in Israel carried weapons with invalid licenses in the past year.

The findings came as a result of an operation during which over 3,000 people with expired weapon licenses went to the police to renew their licenses.

The operation was a national campaign on behalf of the Israel Police, in coordination with the Interior Ministry, which began in August with the goal of returning to the police unlicensed weapons currently in the hands of the public.

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During the first phase of the operation, 27,000 letters were sent by the police warning citizens in possession of weapons with expired licenses.

At this point, around 3,000 owners of unlicensed weapons came and renewed their licenses, while over 24,000 recipients of the warning letters have as of yet not renewed their licenses.