Israeli intelligence warnings from the Egyptian army: Egypt is investing in building strategic tunnels and strengthening its military power against Israel

3 February 2025:
Elie Dikkal, the former head of the military field research branch in the Israeli Military Intelligence Service, warned of arming the Egyptian army, noting that Egypt has a great interest in strengthening Hamas's capabilities in the Gaza Strip. He added during his talk to Israeli media on Radio 103 FM, that Israel needs to occupy an area of 3 kilometers north of Rafah in Gaza to prevent the continued supply of weapons from Egypt to the Strip and to avoid future confrontations with the Egyptians.
Dickel explained that Egypt has been seeking since 1956 to reduce the power of Israel, saying: “They have made us face all kinds of organizations such as Fatah, and everything they did between wars to deplete us, while avoiding the responsibility of any role that they may have played in this context. Although there is a peace agreement between us, there are American interests, Egypt seeks to weaken our strength and not care about that. If Egypt was really interested in converting Gaza to Singapore, it would have been to link Gaza to the wide electricity network in Sinai, which exports electricity to Jordan, which would prevent Gaza from suffering from saving energy. And if Egypt wanted to solve the Palestinian problem, it would have been able to do so during its control of Gaza.
When asked whether Egypt was seeking war with Israel, Dikkal replied: "I think that," explaining that he had discovered 60 tunnels in the Sinai linking it to the island to enhance the movements of its forces, in addition to strategic spending to store weapons.
Dickel stated: “I was the one who revealed the presence of sixty tunnels in the Sinai, which was aimed at linking Egypt to the island to facilitate the movements of the Egyptian forces there, in addition to other goals. But the matter is not limited to these sixty tunnels, in the past year, and despite talking about the improvement of relations between us and the Egyptians, Egypt began to create huge tunnels with a diameter of an entrance of up to 7 meters, and a length that may reach tens of kilometers. Unfortunately, I cannot define all the tunnels in the Sinai, especially those hidden in the sides of the mountains, which are part of their strategic plans to save weapons there. ”
"These are strategic tunnels that have been dug to store weapons, and they started digging them in Sinai last year, after they dug about sixty tunnels of this type on the West Bank of the Suez Canal," Dickel added.
Dickel stressed: “We are the real enemy, and I cannot understand the reason for arming Egypt or digging it into strategic spending or investing huge sums in the crossings, gates, ammunition and fuel, unless this is directed against us. I do not think that drilling 60 tunnels in the Sinai are directed against Iran, for example! They are preparing an offensive weapon and working to protect it from the air attacks of our aircraft. ”
Dickel stressed that Egypt is investing huge sums in the creation of tunnels, gates, ammunition and fuel, which is a threat to Israel. When asked about the possibility of these measures to conflict with the peace agreement, Dickel said: "There is nothing in the peace agreement that has not been violated."