Egypt Daily News - Diaa Rashwan, head of the State Information Service (SIS), said that more than 1,500 tunnels were destroyed and the border wall with the Gaza Strip has been strengthened, as part of broader Egyptian steps to eliminate tunnels once and for all.
Rashwan added in a new statement for the SIS, that Egypt has full sovereignty over its land and has full control over its entire northeastern borders with Gaza or Israel.
He pointed out that the recent period witnessed several statements by Israeli officials, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, containing false claims and allegations about the existence of smuggling operations of weapons, explosives, ammunition and their components into the Gaza Strip from Egyptian territory through several routes, including tunnels that these statements claimed existed between both sides of the border.
He continued that all countries in the world know well the extent of the efforts made by Egypt in the last 10 years, to achieve security and stability in Sinai and enhance security on the border between Egyptian Rafah and the Gaza Strip, as Egypt itself suffered greatly from these tunnels during the fierce confrontation with terrorist groups in Sinai.
Following the end of the Brotherhood regime in June 2013 and until 2020, tunnels represented a means for smuggling fighters and weapons to Sinai to carry out terrorist operations that claimed the lives of more than 3,000 martyrs from the Egyptian army, police, and civilians, and more than 13,000 injured.
He stressed that this situation prompted the Egyptian administration to take broader steps to eliminate these tunnels once and for all. A 5-kilometre-long buffer zone was created from the Egyptian city of Rafah to the border with Gaza, and more than 1,500 tunnels were destroyed.
Egypt also strengthened the border wall with the Gaza Strip, which extends for 14 kilometers, by reinforcing it with a concrete wall 6 meters above the ground and 6 meters below the ground. Thus, there are three barriers between Sinai and the Palestinian Rafah, with which any smuggling operation is impossible, neither above nor underground, as Egypt has full sovereignty over its land, and has complete control over its entire northeastern borders, whether with the Gaza Strip or with Israel.
