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© SAID KHATIB/AFP/GETTY IMAGESSmoke rises in the southern Gaza Strip along the border with Egypt where a smuggling tunnel dug beneath the border was demolished.
Egyptian security forces have destroyed a number of tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Video footage showed explosions and then clouds of smoke rising up in the town of Rafah, on the border between the Palestinian territory and Egypt on Saturday.

About 80 percent of the tunnels, which are used to transfer goods and medicines into Gaza from Egypt, are no longer functional due to similar incidents carried out by the Egyptian security forces.


Over the past months, Egypt has stepped up its crackdown on the supply tunnels leading into Gaza, which bring basic supplies to the Gazans in the besieged enclave. Egyptian army forces flooded several of tunnels in February.

Since the ouster of Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, the Egyptian military has launched a campaign to destroy the tunnels, preventing the people in Gaza from bringing in most of their basic goods like construction materials, food, and fuel.

Palestinians say the tunnels are the only resort to provide food and other basic needs for the people in the Gaza Strip.