Egypt army's flooding of Gaza tunnels creates sinkhole
Date
11/4/2015 9:00:05 AM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) A major landslide late Tuesday in the southern border area between the blockaded Gaza Strip and Egypt resulted in a major sinkhole after the Egyptian army pumped seawater into the strip’s tunnels for around two months the Gaza Ministry of Interior said.
Palestinian security and civil defense teams rushed to the area to protect civilians at risk the ministry added.
A number of tunnels had collapsed south of Rafah causing a sudden landslide a Palestinian national security source told Anadolu Agency adding that this is the fourth time the area suffers from landslides and sinkholes.
The Egyptian army had built large pipelines along the border with the Gaza Strip and began flooding the area with seawater in September in an effort to destroy a network of underground tunnels between the Palestinian territory and the Sinai Peninsula.
Blockaded by Israel since 2007 Gaza used to receive much-needed supplies through the network of smuggling tunnels on its border with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Since the 2013 military coup against President Mohamed Morsi Egyptian authorities have cracked down on the tunnels.
Last year Egyptian authorities began to establish a buffer zone in North Sinai’s city of Rafah along the border with Gaza following a spate of militant attacks against army and police forces.
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