Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi approved (Arabic link) a new law that could impose a maximum penalty of life in jail for anyone convicted of digging smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian border with Gaza. The sentence also targets anybody who uses the tunnels, has contact with foreign parties connected to the tunnels, or provides help in digging the smuggling burrows that have been used to transport weapons and goods between Egypt and Gaza.

The Egyptian army declared a state of emergency in the border area with the Gaza Strip a few months ago, following a string of deadly attacks by terrorists in the northern Sinai Peninsula that primarily targeted Egyptian security forces. Egypt declared that the Iran-backed organization Hamas, which rules Gaza, is a terrorist group. Egypt also decided to destroy hundreds of buildings and create a kilometer-wide buffer zone on its side of the border with Gaza.

Hamas has recently increased its attempts to dig more tunnels. Egyptian authorities accuse Palestinians militants—primarily Hamas—in the Gaza Strip of using tunnels to smuggle weapons to Islamist jihadists in Sinai who have declared their intention to overthrow the Egyptian government. The Egyptian army has destroyed hundreds of smuggling tunnels between Sinai and Gaza in recent months.

[Photo: Marius Arnesen / Flickr]