The Philadelphi Route (corridor / buffer zone) was an IDF code name for the strip of land along the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Under the Oslo Accords, it remained under direct Israeli military control. IDF or idf may refer to: the International Diabetes Federation the Israel Defense Forces the AIDC Ching-kuo Indigenous Defence Fighter of Taiwan. ... The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles (DOP), finalized in Oslo, Norway by August 20, 1993, and subsequently officially signed at a public ceremony in Washington D.C. on September 13, 1993 with Mahmoud Abbas signing for the Palestine...

One purpose of the Philadephi Route was to prevent the movement of illegal materials (including weapons, ammunition, illegal drugs) from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. Palestinians in cooperation with some Egyptians have build smuggling tunnels under the Philadephi Route to move these into the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians are a mainly Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine. ... Smuggling tunnels are secret tunnels, usually hidden underground, used for smuggling of goods, illegal weapons and people. ...

Most of the tunnels are based in both sides of Rafah. Since the outbreak of the al-Aqsa Intifada, the Israeli Defence Forces began operating against the tunnels. IDF vehicles, soldiers and outposts were attacked by gunfire and anti-tank rockets from the southern buildings of Rafah, resulting in the demolition of many border-line houses and the erection of a fortification system which includes a steel defence wall and armored outposts (such as "New Termit" and "Hardon"). Rafah (Arabic: رفح Hebrew: רפיח) is a town in the Gaza Strip, on the Egyptian border, and a nearby town on the Egyptian side of the border, on the Sinai Peninsula. ... The wreckage of a commuter bus in West Jerusalem after a suicide bombing on Tuesday, 18 June 2002. ... The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צבא ההגנה לישראל Tsva Ha-Haganah Le-Yisrael ([Army] Force [for] the Defense of Israel), often abbreviated צהל Tsahal, alternative English spelling Tzahal, is the name of Israels armed forces (army, air force and navy). ... Anti-tank, or simply AT, refers to any method of combating military armored fighting vehicles, notably tanks. ... Nakhal Fort, one of the best-preserved forts in Oman. ...

Many operations against smuggling tunnels have been undertaken. Most of the operation were taken under heavy fire, forcing the IDF to demolish buildings which were used as fire-posts for Palestinian snipers and RPG launchers. Houses in which tunnels were discovered were also demolished. More than 90 tunnels (up to April 2004) have been discovered and destroyed by IDF forces. Smuggling tunnels are secret tunnels, usually hidden underground, used for smuggling of goods, illegal weapons and people. ... The traditional definition of a sniper is an infantry soldier especially skilled in field craft and marksmanship who kills selected enemies from concealment with a rifle at large distances. ... Ruchnoi Protivotankovye Granatamyot (RPG) or (Cyrillic) Ручной противотанковый гранатомет (РПГ). Often mistakenly called a Rocket Propelled Grenade in the West, RPG is the Russian acronym for Ruchnoi (Handheld), Protivotankovye (Anti-Tank), Granatamyot (Grenade Launcher). The RPG is a hand-held, shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon capable of firing an unguided rocket containing an explosive... April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Human Rights Watch has charged that the IDF used tunnels as a pretext to create a depopulated 'buffer zone' along the Gaza-Egypt border, resulting in the destruction of 1,600 homes by September 2004. In a report on house demolitions in Rafah, HRW argues that the IDF should have been able to detect and neutralize tunnels at the point where they cross underneath the border using technologies proven elsewhere (Korean DMZ, U.S.-Mexico border). The IDF also admitted to HRW that the figure it gives of 90-100 tunnels found so far refers to tunnel entrances rather than tunnels themselves, leading to a significant inflation in tunnel figures. Finally, the IDF also told HRW that for much of the Intifada, its standard procedure for dealing with tunnels was to raze the homes in which entrances were found, without even attempting to collapse the tunnels themselves -- an approach described as "puzzlingly ineffective ... [and] inconsistent with the supposed gravity of this longstanding threat."

In May 2004, Operation Rainbow was undertaken, in part, to destroy the smuggling tunnels and damage the terrorist infrastructure in the area. The IDF confirmed that a number of Palestinian civilians were killed when accidentally entering the combat zone. Operation Rainbow מבצע קשת בענן is a controversial military operation which began on May 18, 2004 in the Gaza Strip. ... Look up terrorist in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In September 2005 the IDF handed over control to the Egyptian army, which is now responsible for security on the Philadephi Route and for fighting smuggling.

See also

• Israeli Defence Forces.
• Al-Aqsa Intifada.
• Rafah, Gaza Strip.
• Smuggling tunnels.
• Israeli Gaza Strip Barrier.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צבא ההגנה לישראל Tsva Ha-Haganah Le-Yisrael ([Army] Force [for] the Defense of Israel), often abbreviated צהל Tsahal, alternative English spelling Tzahal, is the name of Israels armed forces (army, air force and navy). ... The wreckage of a commuter bus in West Jerusalem after a suicide bombing on Tuesday, 18 June 2002. ... Rafah (Arabic: رفح Hebrew: רפיח) is a town in the Gaza Strip, on the Egyptian border, and a nearby town on the Egyptian side of the border, on the Sinai Peninsula. ... Smuggling tunnels are secret tunnels, usually hidden underground, used for smuggling of goods, illegal weapons and people. ... Gaza Strip Barrier near the Karni Crossing The Israeli Gaza Strip barrier is a separation barrier along the armistice line of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War between the Gaza Strip and Israel. ...

External links

• In pictures: Searching for Gaza's tunnels
• Part A Part B Satellite photos comparing 2001 to 2004.
• Human Rights Watch report on house demolitions in Rafah in expanding Philadelphi buffer zone.