Amidst falling rockets, Egypt boasts of destroying 1,370 Hamas tunnels into Gaza

In a show of yet another sign of Cairo’s antipathy towards Hamas, the French media’s announcement from Egypt comes as Gaza rockets land in southern Israel.

 

As Gaza was rocketing the south on Wednesday afternoon, Egypt announced it had destroyed 1,370 tunnels into the Strip from the Sinai, Agence France Presse reports.

Egyptian Army soldiers patrol in Sinai.

Egyptian Army soldiers on duty in northern Sinai. – Photo: AP

 

The tunnels carry everything from rockets to food and are crucial to both Gaza’s military and its civilian economy. They run mainly under the Gazan border town of Rafah.

Egyptian authorities did not say when they began destroying the tunnels. However, the decisive break between Cairo’s military-run regime and Gaza’s Hamas government came last July when the Egyptian military, backed by massive popular support, overthrew President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government.

Hamas is a Palestinian offshoot of the Brotherhood, and since the two are the closest of allies, Cairo’s old-new military leadership views Hamas as its enemy.

 

View original HAARETZ publication at: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.579493