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Israel Proposes Underground Barrier to Block Weapons Smuggling from Egypt to Gaza

(Ynet News) Yossi Yehoshua - Israel has been proposing to build a deep underground barrier on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border to prevent weapons smuggling. Israeli defense officials believe Hamas has been bringing in its weapons via underground tunnels beneath Rafah. They suggest the wall be built using the advanced technological means built into the wall beneath the Israel-Gaza border. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant discussed the proposal to build the wall, with the cooperation of Egypt and some American funding, with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during his visit last week. The wall would cover 13 km., compared to the 65-km. underground wall between Israel and Gaza. The underground section held well on Oct. 7, unlike the border fence above it, and has never been breached by a Hamas tunnel. It includes technological systems that can detect digging nearby. The Egyptians oppose Israeli ground operations near Rafah, fearing that mass numbers of Palestinians would breach their border to escape the fighting. They also insist that no weapons smuggling had taken place through the Rafah border crossing, despite evidence to the contrary. The military believes the war cannot end before the Hamas lifeline is eliminated. Otherwise, the terror group would be able to rehabilitate its military capacity quickly.
2023-12-29 00:00:00
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