Rafah, Egypt – Hidden inside a bedroom closet just feet from a crib and a bed, an Egyptian army officer lifted floor tiles to reveal a hole: the entrance to a tunnel for smuggling weapons extending hundreds of yards across the border into the Gaza Strip.
Tunnel entrances turn up in homes all over this border town.
Another house nearby had two, one hidden in the kitchen and another in a backyard duck pen – small holes in the earth, just wide enough for a person to crawl through, dug with homemade tools.
Egypt has been under stepped-up pressure from the United States and Israel to stop the flow of weapons into Gaza since the Palestinian militant group Hamas seized control of the coastal territory in June.
But Egypt says it needs help from the U.S. and Israel, including more equipment to track the many passageways dug under the border and money to deploy more guards.
“We can’t stop all smuggling. We need more machines, we need double the number of border guards,” Egyptian army Col. Amr Mamdouh told reporters during a rare tour of the border area Sunday. “Anywhere you stamp your foot on the ground, you will find tunnels.”
The 8-mile Gaza-Egypt border is the sole land connection between the territory and the outside world not controlled by Israel, making it crucial to the West’s attempts to isolate Hamas and prevent it from getting arms and money. The militant group is pressuring Cairo to at least let money slip through to bolster its rule.
The United States is hoping to cut off Hamas as Washington tries to push forward the peace process between Israel and Hamas’ rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose government controls the West Bank.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are meeting with Arab foreign ministers today in the Egyptian Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheik, seeking their support in the peace process. Egyptian and U.S. officials are likely to discuss border issues.
Egyptian authorities have discovered six tunnels in the border town of Rafah since Hamas took over Gaza in mid-June, after days of fierce battles with Fatah fighters loyal to Abbas, Mamdouh told reporters in Rafah.
He said the military could not say whether the rate of digging tunnels – or discovering them – has increased since the Hamas takeover.
Border crossings in Rafah have been closed since the Hamas takeover and likely won’t reopen as long as the militant group remains in control.
Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said the group has 200 fighters at the border. He insisted Hamas was “making great efforts to protect the area” but would not comment on tunnels or smuggling.
