Egypt moves 5,000 troops near Gaza border
EGYPT: Egypt moved 5,000 more security forces near the Gaza Strip
border after an Israeli report said Israel may bomb tunnels used for
smuggling weapons into Palestinian territories, an Egyptian official
said.
"They requested reinforcements after the Israeli report and also
citing fears of Palestinian militants breaching the border wall between
the Gaza Strip and Egypt," the official told Reuters in Cairo.
The 5,000 Egyptians were members of the police's central security
force. They joined about 750 border guards already deployed along the
area known as the Philadelphi Corridor, fearing the possible operation's
impact on civilians living on the Egyptian side of the border.
The Israeli daily newspaper Maariv reported that precision-guided
weapons would be used to penetrate deep underground in the hope of
destroying the tunnel network that the Jewish state says riddles the
area, which is 14 km (8.6 miles) long and approximately 100 metres (330
feet) wide.
The decision to use "smart" bombs may be a substitute to reoccupying
the entire region, the newspaper said. Israel says it has been unable to
control weapons smuggling into Gaza since it withdrew its forces from
the coastal strip last year.
"We are following the situation with extreme concern and we have not
received any warnings from the Israeli side about this operation," one
Egyptian official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The
Israeli army declined to comment on the report.
An Israeli military source said later on Saturday: "Anything that
will take place along the Philadelphi Corridor will be reported to the
Egyptian authorities in advance."
A Palestinian security official in Gaza denied reports of further
Egyptian forces being deployed along the border line itself.
The official said after consultations with Egyptian counterparts, the
number of border police remained at 750.
Israel started to target underground passages in the area after
Palestinian militants tunnelled into Israel and captured one of its
soldiers in a raid on June 25. The operation also sparked an expanded
Israeli military offensive that killed more than 250 Palestinians, about
half of them civilians.
Maariv reported the air force was given the green light to drop bombs
after a similar campaign successfully destroyed tunnels along the
northern Gaza border with Israel.
Egyptian security and border officials said the possible Israeli
operation could threaten around 20,000 civilians who live close to the
border.
"There are schools, banks, markets and residential buildings close to
the border with Gaza, which makes the use of such bombs more dangerous,"
one official said.
ISMAILIA, Sunday, Reuters |