Egypt announced its intention to build a harbor along its sea border with the Gaza Strip in order to be used by Egyptian navy patrols to monitor the Egyptian side of the Rafah shore. The harbor dock would be 10 meters deep and extends for 25 meters from the seashore at the Egyptian side of Rafah.
The new construction is considered an extension of the Iron Wall Egypt is constructing along its border with the Gaza Strip.
The Wall is being built under direct US supervision and support and is meant to stop the siege-busting tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. The tunnels are meant to smuggle food, fuels and basic supplies to the Gaza Strip living under
strict Israeli siege since more than three years.
The new Egyptian harbor would also lead to further restrictions on Palestinian firemen already subject to ongoing attacks by the Israeli Navy and continuous Israeli restrictions.
Egyptian sources reported that this new harbor would also prevent Egyptian fishing boats from crossing the border by mistake as Egyptian fishermen were subject to Israeli fire in several previous incidents.
Meanwhile, Egypt continues the construction of its wall along the border with Gaza, while US security officials and officials of the U.S. embassy in Cairo visited the construction site to inspect the progress of this underground steel wall.
