The Times of Israel

Egyptian army begins flooding Gaza tunnels El-Sissi moves ahead with plan
designed to thwart Hamas weapons smuggling, terrorism By Tamar Pileggi
September 18, 2015, 10:16 pm

Palestinians inspect the damage after Egyptian forces flooded smuggling

tunnels dug beneath the Gaza-Egypt border, in Rafah in the southern Gaza
Strip, on September 18, 2015. (Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/ Flash90)
Writers Tamar Pileggi Tamar Pileggi is a breaking news editor at The Times
of Israel.

The Egyptian military on Friday morning began pumping sea water into the
underground cross-border tunnels dug between its Sinai Peninsula and the
Gaza Strip in what appears to be a renewed campaign to stamp out terror
activity along

Palestinian security officials told the German news agency DPA the
operation was part of an effort to stop cross-border smuggling by Islamist
militants to and from the blockaded Palestinian enclave.
According to the report, large pipes extending from the Mediterranean Sea flooded
the Sinai-Gaza border area with sea water, enabling Egyptian officials to destroy the
tunnels without having to know their exact locations.

Officials announced last month that the area would be flooded and would eventually
be converted into 18 fish farms along the 14-kilometer border with Gaza, making the
digging of new underground tunnels impossible.

An Egyptian tank is seen from the border of southern Gaza Strip with Egypt
September 18, 2015. According to Palestinian witnesses, Egyptian forces pumped
water from the Mediterranean Sea through pipes to destroy smuggling tunnels dug
beneath the Gaza-Egypt border. (Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Since the 2007, the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has been subject to a blockade
imposed by Egypt and Israel, designed in part to prevent the terror group importing
weaponry. Egypt has also been concerned by cooperation between Hamas and Sinai-
based terror groups, and the passage of Hamas terrorists via the tunnels to training
camps in Iran and elsewhere in the region.
The Sinai Peninsula is a bastion of the jihadist group Sinai Province,
formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis. The organization has pledged
allegiance to the Islamic State group, which has captured swathes of
territory in Iraq and Syria.

In this picture provided by the office of the Egyptian Presidency, Egyptian

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, second left, greets members of the
Egyptian armed forces in Northern Sinai, Egypt, Saturday, July 4,
2015.(Egyptian Presidency /Mohammed Abdel-Muati via AP)

Following a spate of attacks on Egypts security forces in the last year,

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has taken an increasingly hard line against
the growing presence of insurgents in the Egyptian territory, and
established a buffer zone along its Gaza border.

An Islamist terror group committed to destroying Israel, Hamas has

accused Sissi of collaborating with Israel.
Up until a number of years ago, Egypt tolerated a smuggling industry,
allowing hundreds of tunnels to bring in goods like cigarettes and spare
motorbike parts, as well as weapons, into Gaza. These tunnels were a
lifeline for Hamas, which collected millions of dollars in taxes and revenues
from the smuggled goods. They continued to thrive after longtime autocrat
Hosni Mubarak was ousted in 2011 and the Islamist Mohammed Morsi
won the countrys first free presidential election.

But the violence has continued. In July, Islamic State-linked militants struck
Egyptian army outposts in a coordinated wave of suicide bombings and
battles. And last month, the Egyptian branch of the Islamic State group
beheaded a young Croatian there who was working for a French company.

On Sunday, Egyptian security forces killed 12 people, including a number of

Mexican tourists, after mistakenly targeting their vehicles while chasing
jihadists in the Sinai.