Egypt’s army said Sunday it has destroyed 13 more tunnels connecting the Sinai Peninsula to Gaza, taking to 1,639 the overall number it has laid waste to, according to AFP.
In April, an Egyptian court outlawed Hamas, much like it banned the Muslim Brotherhood earlier this year, and ordered all of its assets seized.
As part of these operations, the army has also been shutting down the smuggling tunnels, which are used to transfer goods, weapons and even terrorists between the Sinai and Gaza.
The UN announced last year that Egypt had destroyed as much as 80% of terror tunnels leading from Egyptian soil to Hamas in Gaza, as part of its crackdown on Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood terrorism.
Egypt, meanwhile, has been surprisingly vocal during Israel’s own operation to destroy Hamas terror tunnels.
Since Operation Protective Edge began on July 8, Cairo has condemned Israel’s ground offensive but it also lashed out at Hamas, saying the Islamist movement could have saved dozens of lives had it accepted Cairo’s proposal for a cease-fire early on in the operation.