the Israeli army says it has taken control of the border area between the enclave and Egypt

A new stage in the Israeli army’s ground offensive in Gaza. On Wednesday, May 29, the IDF declared that it had taken “strategic control” of the Philadelphia corridor, this 14 kilometer buffer zone between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The army, which has intensified its bombardments on Rafah in recent days, claimed to have discovered “around twenty tunnels” in the border sector, which she suspects of being used for smuggling for armed groups in the Palestinian territory.

On Telegram, the IDF also declared that it had spotted “A tunnel shaft located 100 meters from the Rafah crossing point”, leading to a maze 1.5 kilometers long in total. The enclosure, which housed “large quantities of weapons, including short-range anti-tank missiles, AK-47s, explosives and grenades” according to the army, was totally destroyed and its contents with it. In response, Egypt denied the existence of tunnels under the border, asserting that Israel was thus seeking to justify its offensive in Rafah against Hamas.