A senior Egyptian government official denied recent allegations made by the Israeli army of the existence of "operational tunnels" under the Philadelphi Corridor bordering Egypt with the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip.
The security official, who spoke to The New Arab on condition of anonymity for not being authorised to brief the media, said, "Tel Aviv resorted to such a political manoeuvre to save face amid the world's condemnations of its brutal war against the Palestinians in Gaza."
"We have also to bear in mind that the ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel have hit a stumbling block following the assassination of the Palestinian faction's lead peace negotiator and senior leader Ismail Haniyeh [earlier last week] and the ongoing tension between Israel and Lebanon," the official added.
On Sunday, Israeli news outlets claimed, citing the Israeli military, as saying that Israeli forces had uncovered a "3-metre-high tunnel" in Philadelphi, (also known in Arabic as the Salaheddin corridor) along the Gaza border with Egypt's North Sinai province, which was big "enough for vehicles to drive through."
"It was located along the so-called Philadelphi Corridor last week, as part of efforts to uncover all of Hamas's arms-smuggling routes in the area," Times of Israel reported.
"Dozens of tunnels have been found along the Philadelphi Corridor, including at least 25 that crossed into Egypt," the Israeli media outlet claimed.
The Israeli army also posted on its social media accounts what it claims are pictures and video footage of security forces destroying a number of tunnels in the area across the border.
"The circulated videos and pictures could have been staged… there is no proof of the time and place where they were taken," the Egyptian official argued in response.
The Israeli military said at the end of last month that a period of almost half a year is required to unearth and demolish tunnels in the strategic buffer zone between southern Gaza and Egypt.
The Philadelphi Corridor is a narrow 14-kilometre strip of land covering the entire border between Egypt and Gaza. Until May, Egypt had exercised full control over the axis and Israeli troops were prohibited from the zone.
In May this year, Israel had overrun the corridor, seizing control of the Rafah crossing, Gaza's only exit to the outside world. By taking control of the corridor and Rafah Crossing, Israel violated the decades-long peace treaty with Egypt, straining relations with Cairo further.
Before the Israeli invasion of Gaza in October last year, Egypt patrolled its side of the corridor and Palestinian authorities managed the Gaza side as per the Camp David agreement.
Israel had long been critical of both sides for their management of the buffer zone and fearful of Hamas-built tunnels below ground.