Why is Egypt building more walls around Gaza?
Although Hamas has taken several measures to boost security on the border with Egypt and prevent any attempt to infiltrate into the Egyptian territory, Egypt continues to build walls and destroy the tunnels.
Egyptian army spokesman Tamer al-Rifai said May 4 that Egypt has destroyed more than 3,000 tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip since 2015, noting that these tunnels have posed a threat to the Egyptian national security, as they were used for the infiltration of terrorists and the smuggling of arms, ammunition, goods, drugs and vehicles.
Speaking to the Egyptian eXtra News TV channel, Rifai confirmed that the Egyptian government decided in 2015 to set up a buffer zone along the border with Gaza.
The London-based Arabic-language Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site reported April 25 that the Egyptian armed forces' Engineering Authority started building a wall on the border between the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, a few meters from the concrete wall that the Egyptian army began building earlier this year.
Al-Araby Al-Jadeed quoted tribal sources as saying that the wall will be equipped with electronic sensors and thermographic cameras to prevent anyone from approaching a 14-kilometer (7-mile) border line separating Egypt from Gaza.
