63 Gaza border tunnels destroyed in 2017: Egyptian army

By Mohamed al-Rayyis

CAIRO

Over the course of 2017, the Egyptian army has destroyed 63 cross-border tunnels linking the blockaded Gaza Strip to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, the army announced Friday.

In a statement, the army also said that more than 6,000 illegal immigrants -- of various nationalities -- had been detained over the same period.

Due to a decade-long blockade by Israel and Egypt, the Gaza Strip’s roughly 2 million inhabitants have come to rely on a sophisticated network of cross-border tunnels to import basic commodities, including food, fuel and medicine.

Following Egypt’s 2013 military coup -- which saw the country’s first freely-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, ousted and imprisoned -- the Egyptian authorities began cracking down on Gaza’s cross-border tunnel network.

Cairo has attempted to justify the crackdown by pointing to an ongoing militant insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, which erupted following the 2013 coup.

By Mohamed al-Rayyis

CAIRO

Over the course of 2017, the Egyptian army has destroyed 63 cross-border tunnels linking the blockaded Gaza Strip to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, the army announced Friday.

In a statement, the army also said that more than 6,000 illegal immigrants -- of various nationalities -- had been detained over the same period.

Cairo has attempted to justify the crackdown by pointing to an ongoing militant insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, which erupted following the 2013 coup.