Egypt Destroying Gaza's Tunnel Lifeline

Egypt Destroys Border Tunnels With Gaza

by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Thursday April 2nd 2013; The Egyptian TV reported that the Egyptian Border Police destroyed several border tunnels with the Gaza Strip, including tunnels meant for smuggling cars into Gaza.

According to the report, the Egyptian security forces located, two days ago, a tunnel that was used for smuggling weapons coming from Libya, and destroyed the tunnel after confiscating weapons and explosives that were about to be smuggled into Gaza.

Some of the destroyed tunnels were specifically designed to enable the smuggling of cars

Egypt also arrested seven Palestinians carrying large sums of money meant to be smuggled them into the coastal region.

On Tuesday, February 26, an Egyptian court ruled Tuesday that all border tunnels between the Gaza Strip and Egypt “must be closed and demolished, as they are draining the Egyptian economy and resources, in addition to the fact that some tunnels are used for smuggling weapons into Gaza”.

The ruling was made amidst an ongoing Egyptian campaign that demolished dozens of tunnels, and flooded them with toxic wastewater since the beginning of the year.

Earlier in January, the Egyptian Security Services announced that they managed to uncover a weapons’ storage facility loaded with advances missiles, including antitank and antiaircraft missiles that weapons dealers intended to smuggle into the Gaza Strip via border tunnels.

It is worth mentioning that at approximately 232 have been killed in tunnel collapse accidents, including twenty Palestinians who were killed after the Israeli army bombarded several tunnels as they were in them. Around 800 Palestinians have been injured in these incidents.

Tunnels are also used for smuggling urgently needed medical supplies and medications missing in Gaza Strip hospitals and medical centers due to the Israeli siege.

The siege has left Gazan hospitals and medical center out of basic and specialized supplies and equipment, an issue that has led to the death of more than 400 patients, including infants and children. Many patients died while waiting permits from Israel to cross the border for medical treatment.