Egypt bulldozing along Gaza to stop tunnels

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Egyptian military bulldozers have been digging through the sand along Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip in recent days, pressing ahead with what appears to be a renewed campaign to pressure Gaza’s Hamas rulers and stamp out militant activity along the border.

The project, billed as an Egyptian military- operated fish farm, would fill the border area with water and is designed to put an end to the last remaining cross- border underground smuggling tunnels, Egyptian military officials said. Hamas accuses Egypt of further isolating the Palestinian territory.

Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade of the territory since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. For several years, Egypt tolerated a smuggling industry. The tunnels were a lifeline for Hamas, which collected millions of dollars in taxes and revenue from the smuggled goods. They continued to thrive after longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak was ousted in 2011 and the Islamist Mohammed Morsi won the country’s first free presidential election.

But things changed after the Egyptian army ousted Morsi, a key ally of Hamas, in 2013. The military- backed government accused Islamic militants of using smuggling tunnels to move between Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Hamas denies militants move in and out of its territory.

In November, after militants killed 31 Egyptian troops in an assault on a checkpoint 20 miles from Rafah, Egypt demolished hundreds of homes and evicted thousands of residents as it carved out a buffer zone and destroyed more tunnels.