Egyptian forces have demolished six tunnels and 20 homes near the Gaza border since Sunday, an Egyptian security official said Monday.

Egyptian forces used explosives to destroy four smuggling tunnels in the Sarsuriyya neighborhood on Sunday and two tunnels in Hilwat on Monday, the security official told Ma’an,

Twenty homes near the border have been destroyed, he added.

The official said Egyptian forces had destroyed over 350 smuggling tunnels since the army deposed President Mohamed Morsi in early July.

Egyptian forces have tightened control of Rafah, a town that straddles the Egypt-Gaza border, as well as the waters by the border to prevent smuggling by sea.

Egypt’s navy has deployed lightly-armed warships off the coast of the border and banned fishing near Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid.

A senior Egyptian military official said Sunday that Egypt plans to impose a 500-meter buffer zone along its border with the Gaza Strip.

Egyptian residents living in Saladin, al-Barahmeh, Canada, Brazil, al-Sarsouriya and other neighborhoods close to the Gaza border have received eviction notices.

Homeowners who received eviction orders demonstrated against the decision and burned tires in protest.

Army bulldozers have also uprooted trees in the border area.

(Ma’an – maannews.net)