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#Egypt floods #Gaza tunnels used for smuggling

Since taking office in 2014, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has led attempts to crack down on Islamist insurgents in the Sinai Peninsula.

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However, the leaders of global matters, security, internal, the law and funds have kept their ealier placement inside of the new kitchen cabinet.

Former premier Ibrahim Mahlab’s government resigned on September 12 days after the arrest of agriculture minister Salah Helal as part of a corruption probe.

The Egyptian military said it has started flooding tunnels used by the Hamas terrorist group and other Palestinians to smuggle weapons and goods into Gaza, the BBC reported.

Palestinian security officials told the German news agency DPA the operation was part of an effort to stop cross-border smuggling by Islamist militants to and from the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

Officials first announced that the area would be flooded a month ago and now plan to convert it into 18 fish farms along the 13 kilometre border with Gaza.

The structures have frequently been targeted by both the Israeli and Egyptian militaries.

One smuggler told the Associated Press that they are installing water pumps to suck the water out of the tunnels in case they flood.

Since Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was ousted in a 2013 military coup, Egyptian authorities have ratcheted up their crackdown on Gaza’s cross-border tunnel system, which, Egypt claims, is being used to support militant activity in the Sinai Peninsula. Radwan also said that the fisheries could cause buildings to collapse.

Hamas has accused Egypt of collaborating with Israel to try to further isolate Gaza.

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Subject to an airtight blockade by both Israel and Egypt since 2007, the Gaza Strip – home to some 1.9 million people – has come to rely on the border tunnels for the import of food, fuel and medicine.

A Palestinian youth shows how to abseil into one of the tunnels on the Gaza side after Egyptian forces flooded smuggling tunnels beneath the border to the Gaza strip in Rafah southern Gaza Strip