Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday said that the security measures taken by his country along the border with Gaza were not aimed at “harming” Palestinians.
“The measures taken by Egypt to secure its eastern borders are in full coordination with the Palestinian Authority and cannot have the aim of harming our Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip,” al-Sisi was quoted as saying in a statement sent by his office.
“The measures seek to protect the Egyptian borders and maintain Egyptian and Palestinian national security,” it added.
The Egyptian leader reportedly made the comments during a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in New York, where they are attending the UN General Assembly.
Egypt began creating a wide buffer zone along the Gaza border late last year in a bid to destroy the hundreds of smuggling tunnels Cairo says are used by Palestinian activists to deliver weapons to extremists who are battling Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula.
In recent weeks, Egypt has also been carrying out digging work in the area that Palestinians believe is intended to flood the last remaining tunnels between Gaza and the Sinai.
The work has been criticized by Hamas, the Palestinian Muslim movement that runs the Gaza Strip, with Palestinian National Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Thursday accusing Egypt of further besieging the enclave, which is already under an Israeli blockade.
Cairo also came under fire from Human Rights Watch this week, which said Egypt’s military had “violated international law” through mass home demolitions in the buffer zone and accused the government of failing to provide adequately for about 3,200 families after their evictions.
The watchdog also said Egypt had not “provided proof that insurgents receive military support from Gaza.”
Since the ouster of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, extremist groups have stepped up their attacks against Egyptian security forces in the northern Sinai Peninsula. Hamas lost a major ally with Morsi’s overthrow and has had strained relations with al-Sisi, who overthrew Morsi while head of the military.
Tunnels have long been used to transport people and goods in and out of Gaza. Egypt controls the only crossing into Gaza not overseen by Israel.
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