The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Sunday that soldiers had uncovered a massive smuggling tunnel underneath the border between Gaza and Egypt in the area of Rafah — where the U.S. had cautioned Israel not to go.
In a statement, the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet, or Shabak) said:
Recently, IDF troops have been working to locate and destroy underground tunnel routes in the Philadelphi area, and so far, the troops have located and destroyed dozens of routes.
At the beginning of last week, in one of the operations to locate underground tunnel routes in the Philadelphi area, a three meter high tunnel was uncovered on the Philadelphi Corridor.
At this stage, the troops are continuing with the investigation and neutralization of the underground tunnel route, as well as other large-scale routes that were found.
The IDF will thoroughly destroy all the underground infrastructure on the Philadelphi Corridor and will act with determination to prevent their formation in the future.
Prior to May, the Biden administration had warned Israel not to enter Rafah, even withholding weapons to pressure Israel to stay out of the area. Israel decided to enter Rafah anyway due to its strategic importance to the war against Hamas.
IDF control of the Philadelphi Corridor, which is a road along the border, has been at stake in recent negotiations with Hamas over a hostage-ceasefire deal. Hamas and the U.S. want Israel to cede control of the corridor, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been reluctant to give it up.
Control of the corridor allows the IDF to choke Hamas’s weapons supply; Israel does not trust Egyptian or U.S. guarantees to monitor the border effectively.
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