(JTA)–Israel will reportedly allow Egypt to double or triple its security presence on the Israeli-Gaza Strip border.
Ha’aretz on Friday quoted Israeli officials and sources in southern Gaza as saying that the 750-man force appears to be ready to double or triple in a bid to prevent weapons smuggling.
Israel destroyed a majority of an estimated 400 tunnels on the border during the recent Gaza Strip war with Hamas, the terrorist group that controls Gaza.
Israel had in the past resisted allowing the expansion of the Egyptian force out of a reluctance to reopen the terms of its 1978 peace agreement with Egypt.
Separately, Israel Radio on Friday evening quoted the Arabic language Al-Jazeera TV network as saying that American engineers attached to the U.S. embassy in Cairo will supervise Egyptian efforts to destroy the smuggling tunnels.
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