RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Just when Hamas saw a window of opportunity in improving its relations with Cairo, the Egyptian army made successive moves along the border between the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula.

Abdel Fattah Harhour, governor of Northern Sinai, declared Dec. 31 that Egypt would start to expand the buffer zone on the borderline with Gaza in Rafah city to 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) deep. The zone would stretch along 5 kilometers (3 miles), which would allow better surveillance of the region bordering the Gaza Strip. Moreover, the use of tunnels to move weapons, or to make way for militants to pass through, would be forbidden.

Al-Monitor visited the Egyptian-Palestinian border in Rafah in the south of Gaza and noticed that the Egyptian army was persistently using its military vehicles to destroy more homes and dig large holes along the border.

An Egyptian official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “The step to expand the buffer zone was made to face the danger of tunnels along Gaza’s border, as well as the developed means for militants to dig and build such tunnels along the borderline with Rafah. The tunnels have become the main passage for armed members to enter Sinai and to receive logistic support, weapons and ammunition.”