An Egyptian official accused Israel of using allegations of the existence of tunnels on the border with the Gaza Strip to justify its military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to what Cairo News Channel reported on Wednesday, citing a “senior Egyptian source.”
The channel, which is close to Egyptian intelligence, quoted the senior source as saying, “There are no communications with the Israeli side regarding the allegations of the existence of tunnels on the Gaza Strip border with Egypt.”
The source added, “Israel is using these allegations to justify continuing the Palestinian Rafah operation and prolonging the war for political purposes,” stressing that “the Israeli media reports that talked about the presence of tunnels on the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip are incorrect.”
The Israeli National Security Advisor, Tzachi Hanegbi, had indicated in an interview with the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) that Israel must “ensure with the Egyptians that smuggling does not occur through tunnels” under the border.
As of 2013, Egypt destroyed hundreds of cross-border tunnels with Gaza, which it said were used to transport fighters and weapons during the war that Cairo waged for years against Islamist rebels in North Sinai.
An Israeli military official said on Wednesday that Israel had established “operational control” over the strategic Philadelphia axis along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
The Philadelphia Corridor is 14 kilometers long and extends along the border with Egypt, from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south.
The axis is located within the scope of a buffer zone that was agreed to be established between Israel and Egypt.
Hanegbi said in the interview that Israel “must close the border between Egypt and Gaza.”
Since the outbreak of the most violent war ever in Gaza, in October, Israel has repeatedly spoken of ongoing smuggling through tunnels under the border.
But the head of the Egyptian State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, had previously accused Israel of using allegations to justify its illegal occupation of the Philadelphia Axis.
In January, Rashwan said that Egypt had completely destroyed these tunnels, established a buffer zone, and strengthened border control in a step that “makes any smuggling operation impossible, whether above or below the ground.”
Tensions have been rising between Israel and Egypt, the first Arab country to recognize the Hebrew state, since the Israelis ignored international warnings and proceeded with a ground operation in Rafah earlier this month.
Control of the Philadelphia axis comes only weeks after Israeli forces took control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, on May 7.
On Tuesday, Israeli tanks were stationed in the center of the city of Rafah, where the United Nations says 1.4 million people, the majority of whom are displaced, are taking shelter.
The war began in the Gaza Strip with Hamas launching an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7, killing 1,189 people, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse census based on the latest official Israeli data.
During the attack, 252 hostages were taken and transferred to Gaza. After a truce in November, which allowed the release of about a hundred of them, 121 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip, including 37 who died, according to the army.
Israel responded by vowing to “eliminate” Hamas, and has since launched a devastating bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip, accompanied by ground operations, causing 36,171 deaths, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.