JAKARTA - Israel Defense Force (IDF) on Wednesday announced it managed to control Philadelph Route along the Gaza-Egypt border, claiming to have found about 20 cross-border tunnels and dozens of rocket launchers.
In a press conference Wednesday evening local time, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Danielwihi said the 14-kilometer-long line at the border served as an "oxygen route" for the Hamas militant group to smuggle weapons.
Along the corridor bordering the southern city of Rafah, the IDF said so far it had found about 20 tunnels crossing Egypt.
Several tunnels have been discovered by the IDF, and others have only been discovered for the first time. Some of them have been dismantled, and Israel has also provided the latest information to Egypt regarding their development. According to the military, 82 other tunnels leading to the tunnel have been found in the Philadelphia Corridor area.
IDF troops are now physically stationed in most corridors. There is a small section near the beach where ground troops are not present, but the IDF says it controls the area with surveillance and weapons.
Dozens of rocket launchers were also found along the corridor, a few just tens of meters from the Egyptian border. The IDF said it believed Hamas placed rocket launchers along the corridors in a bid to prevent Israel from attacking them, thinking Israel was afraid of shooting excessively into Egypt.
"Our troops found dozens of launchers ready to carry out rocket attacks along the border, launch holes used by Hamas to fire rockets and mortars at Israel," said Laksda Marijuana, as reported by The Times of Israel May 30.
He said Hamas "used the Philadelph region, utilized it and built its infrastructure just tens of meters from the border with Egypt, so we wouldn't attack there."
The rocket launches are located between 10 and 40 meters from the Egyptian border, "so that Israel does not attack territory bordering Egypt", saat mencatat sekitar 70 rockets dan mortars ditembakkan ke Israel dari Rafah dalam beberapa minggu terakhir.
The IDF said on Wednesday it recently destroyed a "important" Hamas tunnel near the Rafah Border Crossing. According to the military, troops reached a tunnel, about 100 meters from the border with Egypt, after receiving intelligence on its location.
The hole leads to an underground network, about one and a half kilometers long, which the IDF says is used by Hamas agents to attack troops operating in the area.
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While visiting its troops in the city on Wednesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said the crackdown on the Hamas battalion was the country's top priority.
"We are here for several reasons. Most importantly, this is the last remaining Brigade (Hamas) with full capabilities, so we want to crush the Rafah Brigade," said Lt. Gen. Halevi, adding the crackdown on the Hamas battalion was "Israel's national mission."
In response, the Egyptian government-affiliated Al-Qahera News TV quoted "high-level" sources as saying there was "no truth" in reports of tunnels between Egypt and Gaza. The channel also cited a source as saying, "Israel continues to seek to spread lies around the situation of its troops in Rafah" in southern Gaza.
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