The tunnels under the border between Gaza and Egypt were flooded by Egyptian forces last week. The country is worried about the two-way flow of smuggled arms with the Gaza Strip which is destabilizing Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, increasingly a hotbed of disgruntled militant groups. The contentious border tunnels are a concern also to Israel, which has targeted the tunnels with airstrikes several times in the past.
Egypt Attempts to Flush Out Gaza’s Smuggling Tunnels
Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / REUTERS
A Palestinian works inside a smuggling tunnel flooded by Egyptian forces, beneath the Egyptian-Gaza border in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 19, 2013.