Posted on 12/31/2008 1:34:40 AM PST by bruinbirdman
Israel's deadly air offensive in the Gaza Strip has sparked clashes between Palestinian gunmen and Egyptian security forces. Nearly 300 Palestinians, most of them armed militants, have been killed since Israel launched the offensive on Saturday.
Hundreds of Palestinians breached the Gaza border fence in four places and poured into Egypt on Sunday. Egyptian police opened fire, prompting gun battles with Palestinian militants. Several hours later, Egyptian officials said border guards restored order.
The breach followed Israel's bombing of 40 tunnels in Gaza used by the ruling Islamic militant group Hamas to smuggle weapons and supplies across Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev says that stopping the flow of weapons to Hamas is a strategic objective. "Unfortunately, we're seeing smuggling across the border from Sinai into Gaza of both explosives and weaponry and know-how. And that's a threat to our country," he said.
The unrest along the border worries the pro-western Egyptian government, says Israeli analyst Jonathan Spyer. "Egypt is immensely concerned about what's going on in Gaza because, of course, Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Muslim Brotherhood is the main domestic opposition to the regime in Egypt," he said.
The breach was reminiscent of events in January, when hundreds-of-thousands of Palestinians broke through the Gaza border fence and poured into Egypt. They stocked up on food and supplies in defiance of a crippling Israeli blockade. Egypt has fortified the border since then because it sees a flood of Palestinians into its territory as a threat to national security.
Wow. That is very cool! 40 tunnels! “Yes they can!!!” and they did. Good for them.
Necessity.. the mother of invention. woooo look at those Palis dig! tunnel rats! rofl
I hear all of the crying about Israel closing off their borders to the Palestinians, but seldom hear anyone crying about Egypt doing the same thing. Why is that?
Palestinians are a threat to everyone's national security. Especially their own.
Heard several years ago that North Korea sent diggers to Iran to assist in digging tunnels. Probably part of nuclear assistance.
Same folks somehow ended up in Syria and Lebanon digging tunnels and bunkers.
Wanna bet that the NK expertise has made it to Gaza?
There is an IDF video showing the bomb explosions on the Gaza end and the debris and explosion exiting the Egyptian end of the tunnel. There are multiple tunnels shown being destroyed
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