Armed Forces Spokesperson Ahmed Mohamed Ali has said that the destruction of smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza is ongoing, while adding that there are an estimated 225 tunnels under the border.
“It has been announced that every tunnel has several entrances, some of which are inside the houses of Egyptians that couldn’t be revealed. This means we have around 550 tunnel entrances,” Ali told the Palestinian Maan news agency.
Ali added that efforts were ongoing to fill the tunnels with water or otherwise destroy them.
Tunnels have been used to smuggle merchandise from Egypt to Gaza, which has been blockaded by Israel since Hamas took power in 2007. Israel has called on Egypt to destroy the tunnels, fearing that weapons were being smuggling to Hamas.
In November, Egypt decided to open the Rafah border crossing permanently following an Israeli military campaign in Gaza, during which Hamas leader Ahmed al-Jaabari was killed.
