AL-ARISH: Egyptian authorities on Sunday discovered five tunnels used for smuggling petrol and food into the Gaza Strip, a security official said.
The tunnels were uncovered near the Rafah border crossing, the official said, and found to contain large amounts of petrol and food, in particular cheese and oil.
The five tunnels will be destroyed today. The surrounding area has been searched with a fine-tooth comb to find other tunnels, the official said, adding that no arrests had been made in connection with the smuggling.
Israel, which sealed Gaza off to all but very limited humanitarian aid after the Hamas movement seized power in June 2007, has repeatedly accused Egypt of doing too little to counter alleged arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip.
The charges have been vehemently denied by Cairo.
Israel has made a truce or period of calm with Palestinian groups conditional on an end to weapons smuggling into the besieged territory. -AFP
