Egypt sets up border cameras to halt Gaza arms smuggling
Egypt has installed surveillance cameras along its border with Gaza as part of efforts to curb arms smuggling into the Palestinian territory, an Egyptian security official said on Saturday.
"Alarms and surveillance cameras were installed last week along the 14-kilometre (eight-mile) border" to detect activity through smuggling tunnels, the official said, declining to be named.
He said it was the first phase of a high-tech security system being installed with US assistance, part of a bid to bolster the January 18 ceasefire in Israel”s war against the Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza.
The tunnels are also used to ferry food supplies and other necessities into the Gaza Strip, which has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since June 2007.
The United States has pledged 25 million euros (32 million dollars) in detection equipment to unearth smuggling tunnels, and US army engineers have been providing technical assistance on the ground.
France, meanwhile, has sent a frigate to patrol the waters off Gaza, where more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed in Israel”s assault aimed at halting rocket attacks on its territory and arms smuggling.
Israel has reserved the right to resume attacking tunnels under the Gaza border, as it did during its 22-day offensive, after tunnel building resumed almost immediately after the ceasefire.