Egypt and Hamas are locked together and the Israeli army. Israeli forces will be stationed permanently on the Egyptian border to prevent arms smuggling by Hamas. Israel has shown the world many times that Egypt is not as good as it seems. There were dozens of tunnels from the Islamic country of Egypt to Gaza. All these were captured and destroyed by the Israeli army in the battle of Rafah. Sea water was pumped into many tunnels and the terrorists inside were flushed out. The doors of some tunnels were finished and smoked.
Israel has announced that even if the Israeli army withdraws from Gaza now, it will not withdraw from the Egyptian-Gaza border. A senior Israeli official said that Cairo is privately moving to keep IDF troops on the main border used by Hamas to smuggle weapons from Egypt to Gaza. As soon as Israel withdraws from Gaza, Israel will continue to control the Egypt-Gaza border and the Rafah Gate.
Israel’s position will complicate Hamas’ position in hostage negotiations. Israel controls about 14 kilometers of the border. There will be Israeli military camps along these 14 km. The US has held tripartite talks with Israel and Egypt about building an underground wall along the corridor along the Strip and the southern corridor. Two officials said a surveillance system would be set up to prevent weapons being smuggled into Gaza.
The prime minister has now reversed course, envisioning a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in the second of three six-week phases of the ceasefire agreement. Some areas of Gaza will be controlled by Israel. The Israeli military will check goods coming into Gaza at the main gate. The Palestinians are unlikely to agree to a new demand from Netanyahu to create a system to prevent weapons from being smuggled into northern Gaza. In the months leading up to that operation, Egypt had warned that Cairo and Jerusalem would jeopardize the peace accords signed in 1979.
Israel’s goal is to prevent Hamas from resuming smuggling across the border and preventing arms and missiles from reaching Gaza. No agreement has yet been reached and Israel is seeking to remain in the Philadelphia Corridor for a longer period of time, though not permanently, the officials said. Weapons will then be smuggled out of Egypt through this route. From Iran and Turkey, missiles and guns were delivered to Egypt and from there through tunnels to Hamas in Gaza. It is suspected that Egypt also had an understanding of this
Some tunnels were big enough for vehicles. Hamas used these vehicles to bring in weapons and supplies, and in some tunnels used cattle to tie up the goods and transport them into Gaza. Israel says dozens of these have been recovered since entering the corridor in May.
