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The border area between Egypt and Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has been witnessing a significant escalation of the Egyptian army's security campaign of destroying dozens of tunnels underneath the borders that are used for smuggling, Hamas sources said on Sunday.
The sources told Xinhua that over the past three days, the Egyptian army had destroyed 30 tunnels underneath the borders between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, most of which were in al-Barazil neighborhood in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah.
Residents in the town testified that they saw smoke pillars coming out from the area and heard huge explosions, adding that the destruction of the tunnels is part of a large-scale operation carried out by the Egyptian army forces in the area.
The residents also said they saw Egyptian bulldozers destroying buildings at the Egyptian side of the borders, expressing concerns that the destruction of houses along the border may be a preparatory step for creating a 500-meter no-go zone along with the borders with the Gaza Strip.
Sobhi Radwan, the mayor of Rafah town, told Xinhua that what is happening in the border area "is increasing our concerns that the Egyptian army is intending to establish a security no-go zone along with the borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt." "Egyptian vehicles are carrying out unprecedented campaign of destroying buildings and tunnels in the Egyptian side of the borders, apparently to prepare for building up the security no-go zone," said Radwan, adding "more than 90 percent of the tunnels are inoperative due to the campaign."
The ongoing developments at the border area between Gaza and Egypt had prompted Hamas government to call on Egypt not to establish any security no-go zone, according to Hamas government's spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein.
"Security no-go zone can never be established between brothers or on the borders of the two brothers' countries. The Gaza Strip is the first line of defense for Egypt and only good things come from it," said al-Ghussein, expressing hope that Egypt should build up a free trade zone instead.
The Egyptian army's security campaign to destroy tunnels underneath the borders has been going on since June 30 protests that ousted Islamic president Mohamed Morsi just one year after he was elected. The campaign mounted following bloody military attacks on the Egyptian army in Sinai.
Right after Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Israel imposed a tight blockade in the coastal enclave. To defy the Israeli blockade, the Palestinians dug hundreds of tunnels to get food, medicine and fuels. The tunnels were covering 40 percent of Hamas budget.
Meanwhile, the Gaza-based Popular Committee against the Israeli Siege called on Israel to reopen Karni crossing point on the borders between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel and allow raw materials used for construction, industry and agriculture.
The committee said in a press statement that the best solution to put an end to the shortage of construction raw materials "is to open Karni Crossing Point, which was shut down two years ago," adding "If Egypt destroys all the tunnels, there must be alternative to cover Gaza Strip needs."
Local figures said that the Gaza Strip needs every day around 6, 000 tons of cements, 4,000 tons of construction iron and 5,000 tons of gravel, as Israel is only allowing 800 tons of gravel every day for building schools and hospitals supervised by international organizations.
