CAIRO — Egypt is installing a series of metal sheets about 60 feet deep along its border with the Gaza Strip in an attempt to block tunnels that serve as a key conduit to get weapons into the Palestinian territory, border guards and area residents said Thursday.
The work poses a risk to Egypt’s relations with Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, and could undermine its role as a regional mediator. Egypt already is under fire from Arab and Muslim groups for cooperating with Israel in its two-year blockade of the impoverished territory, with 1.4 million residents.
The border project appears to be one of a series of measures Egypt has taken, some of them in cooperation with the U.S., to crack down on smuggling since the end of Israel’s war on Hamas last winter. The tunnels were a main target of Israel’s offensive.
“We in Hamas can’t believe that Egypt would put barriers between us,” Hamas lawmaker Yehiye Moussa said. “We know that Egypt is under American and international pressure, but we hope that this is not true. We demand that Egypt open its border.”
But the tunnels also create an issue for Egypt, allowing terrorists to slip into the country from Gaza and attempt attacks.
Residents along the border said that in recent weeks, they have seen Egyptian construction crews clearing a corridor along the frontier, then drilling deep holes. They said the workers then filled the trenches with sand. The residents spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Government officials did not return calls seeking comment.
On Thursday, heavy drilling machinery could be seen operating on the Egyptian side of the border. Nonetheless, on the Gaza side, tunnels were active with Palestinian smugglers lowering themselves into the deep shafts.
Egypt has been wary of cooperating to shut the tunnels, which are used for smuggling everything from food to medicine and construction materials. Without tunnel smuggling, Gaza’s already shaky economy — facing a crippling blockade since Hamas seized control of the strip in 2007 — would probably collapse.
Egypt’s gamble is substantial. It could undermine its central role in mediating Mideast conflicts, including the bitter rivalry between Hamas and Fatah for control of the Palestinian territories.
Egypt also has been trying to arrange a prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel that could ultimately lead to an easing of the Gaza blockade.
Egyptian and Israeli officials said the project along the Gaza border was in cooperation with the U.S. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue.
A U.S. Embassy official in Cairo denied there was American involvement in any barrier project on the border.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Wednesday quoted Egyptian sources as saying the massive iron underground barrier, which cannot be cut or burned through, will be about 6 miles long, and 60 to 90 feet deep.
