Egypt moved 5,000 more security forces near the Gaza Strip border on Saturday 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 a similar number of border guards already deployed along the area known as the Philadelphi route, fearing the possible operation's impact on civilians living on the Egyptian side of the border.
The Israeli daily newspaper Maariv reported on Friday 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 11 km long (6.5 miles) and approximately 100 meters (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.
Tell me again why it was a good idea to disengage from the Gaza Strip.
I could say I told you so, but instead I would like to point out that the responsibility for the Philadelphi Corridor officially lies as an Egyptian/Palestinian Authority responsibility with the EU overseeing. Condi Rice even brokered the deal - wonder what she thinks of it now? And so much for the effectiveness of the EU as monitor.
But how odd, for the Egyptians to deploy so many troops to their side of the border. One would think that the Egyptian government has a stake in keeping those tunnels open with the flow of weapons into the Gaza Strip.
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