06-04-2024, 10:14 AM
Obviously, there is a huge black market economy between Gaza and Egypt the question is what and how much do Egypt leaders know?
an extensive article from the Middle East Eye.Middle East EyeNews outlet covering the Middle East
middleeasteye.netMiddle East Eye is a UK-based news website founded in 2014 that covers the Middle East and North Africa. It is reportedly funded by the government of Qatar. Wikipedia
FWIW
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt...nels-rafah
an extensive article from the Middle East Eye.Middle East EyeNews outlet covering the Middle East
middleeasteye.netMiddle East Eye is a UK-based news website founded in 2014 that covers the Middle East and North Africa. It is reportedly funded by the government of Qatar. Wikipedia
FWIW
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt...nels-rafah
Quote:
Secret military documents obtained by Middle East Eye reveal the scale of Egyptian operations to destroy tunnels between the Sinai peninsula and Gaza built to circumvent the Israel-imposed blockade of the enclave.
According to the documents that MEE is publishing in full, more than 2,000 tunnels were destroyed by military engineers in the border city of Rafah between 2011 and 2015.
They also reveal that senior members of the armed forces ordered a feasibility study into a proposal to dig a canal along the entire border with Gaza as an alternative to destroying the tunnels.
The documents, leaked by an army insider, offer a rare insight into the military’s extensive operations in the North Sinai governorate.
The government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is highly secretive about its activities in Rafah and has imposed a media blackout in the region since 2013 where it has waged a brutal and destructive operation against local militants aligned with the Islamic State (IS) group.
It has never released official details about the destruction of tunnels.
According to the documents, all the tunnels destroyed during the period they covered were designated as commercial or transport tunnels.
The revelations come to light following the closure of the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza after an Israeli operation on 7 May and raise questions about Israeli criticism of Egypt's alleged failure to eliminate smuggling tunnels used by Palestinian armed groups.
Israeli officials have said weapons used in Hamas’s attack in southern Israel on 7 October were smuggled into Gaza via tunnels from Egypt.
Diaa Rashwan, a government spokesperson, said Egypt had also built a concrete wall along the entire border, six metres overground and six metres underground, which he said made it "impossible to smuggle weapons”.
Egyptian army spokesmen have previously put the number of tunnels destroyed at about 3,000. In 2018, a military spokesperson said some of the tunnels destroyed reached a depth of 30 metres underground.
His mind was not for rent to any god or government, always hopeful yet discontent. Knows changes aren't permanent, but change is ....
Professor Neil Ellwood Peart
Professor Neil Ellwood Peart