The Philadephi Route (corridor / buffer zone) is a strip of land between Egypt and the Gaza Strip ceded to Israel by the Oslo Accords.

One purpose of the Philadephi Route is to prevent the movement of illegal materials (including weapons, ammunition, illegal drugs) from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. Palestinians in cooperation with some Egyptians have build smuggling tunnels under the Philadephi Route to move these into the Gaza Strip.

Most of the tunnels are based in both sides of Rafah. Since the outbreak of the al-Aqsa Intifada, the Israeli Defence Forces began operating against the tunnels. IDF vehicles, soldiers and outposts were attacked by gunfire and anti-tank rockets from the southern buildings of Rafah, resulting in the demolition of many border-line houses and the erection of a fortification system which includes a steel defence wall and armored outposts (such as "New Termit" and "Hardon").

Many operations against smuggling tunnels have been undertaken. Most of the operation were taken under heavy fire, forcing the IDF to demolish buildings which were used as fire-posts for Palestinian snipers and RPG launchers. Houses in which tunnels were discovered were also demolished. More than 90 tunnels (up to April 2004) have been discovered and destroyed by IDF forces.

Human Rights Watch has charged that the IDF is using tunnels as a pretext to create a depopulated 'buffer zone' along the Gaza-Egypt border, resulting in the destruction of 1,600 homes by September 2004. In a report on house demolitions in Rafah, HRW argues that the IDF should be able to detect and neutralize tunnels at the point where they cross underneath the border using technologies proven elsewhere (Korean DMZ, U.S.-Mexico border). The IDF also admitted to HRW that the figure it gives of 90-100 tunnels found so far refers to tunnel entrances rather than tunnels themselves, leading to a significant inflation in tunnel figures. Finally, the IDF also told HRW that for much of the Intifada, its standard procedure for dealing with tunnels was to raze the homes in which entrances were found, without even attempting to collapse the tunnels themselves -- an approach described as "puzzlingly ineffective ... [and] inconsistent with the supposed gravity of this longstanding threat."

The map below, prepared by Human Rights Watch, shows the area of Rafah destroyed as of May 2004 (light gray), along with the projected area based on IDF recommendations to the government (dark gray -- equal to approx 30% of Rafah). A .pdf version is available here.

In May 2004, Operation Rainbow was undertaken, in part, to destroy the smuggling tunnels and damage the terrorist infrastructure in the area. The IDF confirmed that a number of Palestinian civilians were killed when accidently entering the combat zone.

Recently, Israel has considered the option of digging a water-filled moat along the border, in order to prevent the digging of smuggling tunnels under it. Israel has also considered letting Egypt assume responsibility for security on the Philadephi Route and let Egyptian security officers fight the smuggling tunnels.

See also

• Israeli Defence Forces.
• Al-Aqsa Intifada.
• Rafah, Gaza Strip.
• Smuggling tunnels.
• Israeli Gaza Strip Barrier.

External links

• In pictures: Searching for Gaza's tunnels
• Part A Part B Satellite photos comparing 2001 to 2004.
• Human Rights Watch report on house demolitions in Rafah in expanding Philadelphi buffer zone.