The IDF announced yesterday that it had uncovered nine tunnels between Gaza and Egypt in a sweep designed to prevent Palestinians from smuggling in the types of advanced weapons used by Hezbollah in the recent Lebanon conflict, such as Katyusha rockets, anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles.
The incursion was Israel's first along the border since disengagement. The IDF said it had found seven completed smuggling tunnels and two others still being built. What is the Egyptian security force along the border doing? The discovery of these smuggling routes from Egypt demonstrate a complete lack of will on Egypt's behalf.
"There will be no blind-eye policy in the face of the attempts to transform the Gaza Strip into south Lebanon," Defense Minister Amir Peretz said yesterday as tanks and troops operated along the border strip known as the Philadelphi corridor.
Israeli officials say Palestinian extremists have imported tons of arms and explosives into Gaza during the last year. If the Palestinians begin to use such weapons against Israel, Israel will be forced to launch a limited ground invasion to neutralize the threat.
UPDATE 10/19 @ 16:15: Yossi Drori, Commander of the IDF's Tzabar regiment in the Givati Brigade, discussed the succussful operation to uncover smuggling tunnels beneath the Gaza/Egyptian border on Israeli Army Radio this morning, about fourteen hours ago. The full translated text of the interview is available below the fold.
(Note - The following was translated from Hebrew)
Q: Yossi Drori, Lt.-Gen. Commander of the IDF's 'Tzabar' regiment in the 'Givati' Brigade. Shalom and good morning.
YOSSI DRORI: Good morning.
Q: Over the last few days, you have been operating along the Philadelphi Route. When I read about this in the newspapers, I wanted to understand what this means. How deep into the territory of the Palestinian Authority are you operating?
MR. DRORI: We are operating on the edge of Rafah, in the southern neighborhoods of Rafah adjacent to the Philadelphi Route.
Q: Now when you say 'operating', are you referring to exposing tunnels --
Let's talk about the exposure of the tunnels first. The five tunnels that were exposed yesterday near the border of the Gaza Strip were a result of your operation, I assume.
MR. DRORI: That is correct. We operate together with the Desert Patrol Regiment. In addition to the five tunnels, we exposed seven other tunnels.
Q: Is this exposure carried out by way of intelligence information, or do you simply go through the territory systematically, one section at a time and start drilling?
MR. DRORI: It is a combination of both.
Q: This is not something that should surprise you - in other words, five tunnels is a sign that there are 50.
MR. DRORI: That is true. I imagine that there are many more tunnels in the places that we have not been through yet.
Q: Did you discover weapons inside these tunnels?
MR. DRORI: No. Right now we are at the stage in which we checked these tunnels. We did not find weapons inside the tunnels that we have checked. I assume that we will find weapons as we continue.
Q: I imagine that this operation also takes place in crowded areas, right?
MR. DRORI: Some of them are crowded areas. I can tell you that among many of the tunnels that we found, the main entrances are inside houses themselves.
Q: Actually inside houses where people live?
MR. DRORI: Houses where people live.
Q: Does this kind of operation carry on for many days, or does one troop go in and leave right away, and then another troop goes in?
Are there forces that remain there for a long time?
MR. DRORI: Right now we are talking about specific operations that last for a few days. After the force completes its mission, it pulls out and moves on to the next mission.
Q: Just one year ago, we pulled out of there. We closed the gate and locked it. We felt like the Philadelphi Route was behind us.
As someone who has been involved in combat for many years, a commander of the Givati Brigade - was it obvious to you that you would go back there to the Philadelphi Route?
MR. DRORI: One year ago, I was at the start of my current position. It was fairly clear that as a regiment commander, I would lead my troops to combat in these areas, and that is what we are doing today.
Q: Yossi Drori, Lt.-Gen., Commander of the IDF's 'Tzabar' regiment in the 'Givati' Brigade, thank you very much.
MR. DRORI: Thank you very much.
END.
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