Egypt has dismissed Israeli claims regarding the existence of operational tunnels beneath the border area with the Gaza Strip. On Sunday, the Israeli military asserted that its forces had discovered numerous underground tunnel routes in the Philadelphi Corridor.
These claims “are an Israeli attempt to divert attention away from its failures in Gaza and to justify its aggression,” reported the state-affiliated Al-Qahera News channel.
Last May, the Israeli army took control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a demilitarised zone between Egypt and Gaza, prompting immediate opposition from Cairo.
“Israel has not provided evidence of operational tunnels along the Gaza border and is leveraging the existence of closed tunnels in Gaza to disseminate false claims for political purposes,” the source stated.
The source also accused Tel Aviv of ignoring weapon smuggling from Israel to the West Bank, using it as “a pretext for seizing more West Bank lands and perpetuating violence and genocide against Palestinians.”
Despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel continues to face international condemnation for its ongoing offensive in Gaza, which followed a 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas.
Since then, local health authorities have reported that more than 39,600 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and over 91,600 injured. Nearly 10 months into the Israeli war, large areas of Gaza are in ruins under a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel faces genocide accusations at the International Court of Justice, which recently ordered it to halt its military operations in Rafah, where over 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge before it was invaded on 6 May.