After years of intense smuggling activity, transfer of goods and weapons through the tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip has ceased in the last 10 days, according to Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian officials who spoke to The Times of Israel.
The tunnels have been used in recent years as a major commercial artery between the Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. During the last two months, 250-300 tunnels between Gazan Rafah and Egyptian Rafah were active.
The tunnels were an important source of income for the Hamas government, which levied a tax on all goods entering Gaza.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories
Free Sign Up
Delivery of building materials via the tunnels has been arrested, along with that of many other goods. As recently as Tuesday, the Egyptian army closed one of the largest tunnels, which was used to bring automobiles into Gaza.
Senior Egyptian officials stressed that the operation served Egypt’s “national security interests” and said that it was the first real, large-scale operation by the Egyptian army against the tunnels.
Last week, flooding was reported in some 50 tunnels, but Egyptian officials said that many more were affected. Many of the tunnels, destroyed by Egyptian army engineers using controlled explosions deep underground, were flooded with water, they said.
Israeli officials confirmed reports of intense Egyptian activity that brought smuggling through the tunnels to a near standstill. All mass smuggling stopped on June 30, officials said, the same day as the mass rally and military decree that brought down the Morsi government, after Egyptian engineers flooded the tunnels with water.
According to officials, no weapons, people or goods are passing through the tunnels. The Egyptians feared that Hamas agents would flow into Egypt to help the Muslim Brotherhood in the event of deterioration.
Gazan sources told The Times of Israel that only established tunnels continue to operate, and even then only partially. These tunnels are not controlled by Hamas, and the Egyptian side is unaware of their existence, as well.
Over the last 10 days, the Rafah border crossing has been closed to traffic. On Wednesday it was opened again on orders of the Egyptian army.
I'm proud to work at The Times of Israel
I’ll tell you the truth: Life here in Israel isn’t always easy. But it's full of beauty and meaning.
I'm proud to work at The Times of Israel alongside colleagues who pour their hearts into their work day in, day out, to capture the complexity of this extraordinary place.
I believe our reporting sets an important tone of honesty and decency that's essential to understand what's really happening in Israel. It takes a lot of time, commitment and hard work from our team to get this right.
Your support, through membership in The Times of Israel Community, enables us to continue our work. Would you join our Community today?
Thank you,
Sarah Tuttle Singer, New Media Editor
Join the Times of Israel Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You’re serious. We appreciate that!
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we come to work every day - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
comments