The Israeli army announced on Sunday that it has reportedly discovered dozens of tunnels in the Philadelphi corridor (Salah al-Din) area extending along the border between Gaza Strip and Egypt.
“Recently, IDF forces have been working to locate and destroy the routes of the underground tunnels in the Philadelphi area, and so far, the forces have located and destroyed dozens of paths,” an Israeli army statement reads.
It added that: “Early last week, in one of the operations to locate underground tunnel routes in the Philadelphi area, a three-meter-high tunnel was discovered in the Philadelphia Corridor.”
“At this stage, the forces are continuing to investigate and neutralize the underground tunnel routes, as well as other large-scale routes that were found. The IDF will completely destroy all underground infrastructures in the Philadelphia Corridor, and will act decisively to prevent its formation in the future,” it concluded.
Egypt’s ‘red line’
Egypt will not allow Israel to control the Philadelphi Corridor, “under the pretext of stopping weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip“, a security source confirmed back in January.
The Arab World Press reported the source at the time as saying that controlling the borders with Gaza Strip is Egypt’s responsibility, and that Egypt is capable of totally controlling its own borders.
“The peace agreement prevents Israel from carrying out military movements in the Philadelphi Corridor, and Egypt will not allow that,” the source stressed.
“Egypt’s borders are a red line, and no party will be allowed to tamper with them or carry out any illegal activities through them.”
