Israeli army digging for weapons smugglers
The Israeli army is digging a deep trench along the Egyptian border to cut off tunnels used by Palestinians to smuggle weapons into Gaza, it was reported today.
The operation is the reason for repeated clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen along the border, according to reports.
In a clash on Monday, more than 20 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers were wounded, endangering a ceasefire that has reduced the level of violence after more than eight months of fighting.
The trench will be 33 feet deep in some places, along several miles of the border where the town of Rafah and a Palestinian refugee camp come close to the Egyptian border, the paper reported.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
In recent years Israeli forces have discovered and destroyed many tunnels under the border, used for smuggling weapons and other contraband.
According to reports, Palestinian gunmen are trying to stop the project, firing at soldiers guarding the bulldozers and tractors digging the trench and targeting the heavy Israeli equipment with machine gun fire and rifle grenades.
The work is in the beginning stages and is progressing slowly, but two smugglers’ tunnels have already been discovered, one of them full of weapons.
Though the Palestinians control Rafah, Israel is in charge of the border with Egypt and a narrow road along it, according to interim peace accords.
Israel claims that the Palestinians have large amounts of illegal weapons, above the amount allowed them under the interim accords.
On May 7, the Israeli navy displayed weapons captured from a ship the Israelis said was to smuggle them into Gaza. The weapons included anti-aircraft missiles, rockets, mortars and land mines.
