The United States may assist Egypt in fighting smuggling between northern Sinai and Gaza. US engineers will visit the border region in the near future to determine whether or not a physical barrier could stop smuggling in the area.
US officials recently visited the border region to investigate Israeli complaints that Egypt was unable to stop smugglers bringing weapons into Gaza. The officials proposed giving Egypt sophisticated equipment to locate smuggling tunnels, digging a deep moat in the area, or creating a physical barrier deep in the ground.