Israel’s military has declared that it has taken control of the Philadelphi Corridor.
The Philadelphi Corridor is the buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Gaza’s only other land border is with Israel.
This means that Israel now controls Gaza’s entire land border.
A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that circa 20 tunnels used by Hamas to smuggle weapons into Gaza were found within the zone.
Egypt, a strong supporter of Palestine, denies this, suggesting that it was an attempt on behalf of Israel to justify its operation Rafah and prolong the war.
Meanwhile, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described the corridor as a “lifeline” for Hamas, through which the group “regularly smuggled weapons into the Gaza Strip”.
Hagari later said in a briefing with reporters that he could not be sure that all of the tunnels crossed into Egypt, the New York Times reported.
Egypt has previously said it had destroyed cross-border tunnels, making any weapons smuggling impossible.
Israel has insisted that it must take Rafah to achieve victory, reports the BBC.
At least 36,170 people have been killed across Gaza since the start of the conflict, saysthe Hamas-run health ministry.
Tensions between Egypt and Israel have heightened since Israeli forces took control of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing point three weeks ago as part of their offensive against Hamas.
Like Israel, Egypt has maintained a blockade on its border with Gaza since Hamas came to power in 2006.
Egypt has, kept channels open with Hamas and has been acting as a mediator in on-off indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in hopes of reaching a ceasefire.
