Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni approved on Thursday night technical measures discussed earlier in the day by envoy Amos Gilad and Egyptian officials in Cairo for thwarting smuggling of weapons from Sinai into Hamas-controlled Gaza. While Israel destroyed 200 of the estimated 250 tunnels used for smuggling during the just-concluded Operation Cast Lead, Hamas has gone to work to rehabilitate them since the cease fire that Israel enacted on Sunday morning.
Some of the measures involve Egypt reducing the access of Bedouins in Sinai to Gaza from various distances deep inside Egyptian territory. Another focus is the Mediterranean shore, where shipments may be left. The Haaretz daily says another possibility is the doubling or tripling of the 750-member Egyptian border-guard force on the Philadelphi border with Gaza.