Illustrative: Israeli soldiers operate at the opening to a tunnel at Al Shifa Hospital compound in Gaza City, amid the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, Nov. 22, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

JNS.org – Israel Defense Forces soldiers operating in southern Gaza have located dozens of cross-border tunnels used by Hamas terrorists to smuggle weapons into the enclave from Egypt, the military revealed on Sunday.

“In recent operational activity, IDF troops destroyed dozens of tunnel routes in the area of the Philadelphi Corridor and continue to locate additional ones,” the military announcement said, using the IDF’s name for the Gaza Strip’s 8.5-mile border with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

One of the smuggling routes—which soldiers discovered early last week and that was large enough for vehicles to drive through—was dug directly underneath an Egyptian army position on the border, photos show.

“At this time, the forces are continuing to discover and neutralize the underground route that was detected, in addition to other large-scale routes that were found,” the IDF said, adding that it “will thoroughly destroy all underground infrastructures on the Philadelphi Corridor and will act resolutely to prevent their formation in the future.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich tweeted on Sunday, in reference to a ceasefire deal under consideration, “We have warned how dangerous it would be to leave the Philadelphi Corridor under Hamas’s control as part of a surrender pact with [the terrorist group’s leader in Gaza Yahya] Sinwar.”

Letting the terrorist group control the corridor would mean “giving a green light to its rehabilitation and the execution of another massacre of Israeli civilians,” added the Religious Zionism Party leader in his post on X.

IDF ground forces took control of Gaza’s border with Egypt in late May as part of the military operation in the city of Rafah. At the time, the IDF described the Philadelphi Corridor as Hamas’s “lifeline,” through which the terrorist group smuggled weapons and supplies into Gaza.

Jerusalem maintains that control of the border is critical to ensuring that Hamas does not rearm and rebuild via smuggling tunnels with Egypt. During its months-long operation in Rafah and along the border, the IDF has uncovered many tunnels running under the corridor.

Hamas has demanded—as part of talks being brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt—that Israeli forces permanently end the war against the terrorist group and withdraw from the entire Gaza Strip.

In public remarks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that “in every scenario,” Jerusalem will continue to control the areas of the Rafah border crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor.

However, in private talks with the Egyptian government, Israeli officials have reportedly indicated that Jerusalem might be willing to withdraw if Cairo agreed to measures to prevent arms smuggling along the frontier.

Israel will consider a mechanism that would allow withdrawal “as part of a framework for the release of hostages,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told White House special envoy Brett McGurk on July 10.

Matthew Miller, the US State Department spokesman, told reporters during a July 15 briefing that the Israeli government has “very real security concerns about the Philadelphi Corridor.

“That was a chief, if not primary, smuggling route for Hamas to get weapons into Gaza that they used to launch the attacks of October 7, that they used to launch rocket attacks against Israel, that they used to oppress the Palestinian people,” the spokesman explained.

“It is important that smuggling of weapons into Gaza be resolved. It’s also important that we find a way to reopen the Rafah border crossing. So we have been in talks with Egypt and with Israel about how to accomplish all those objectives,” Miller said.