Al-Arish, Egypt - Egyptian security forces Frioday found and destroyed 10 tunnels used to smuggle fuel from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, according to a security source.

Egyptian forces also seized huge amounts of fuel and diesel, along with the pipes which are used to smuggle them through the tunnels.

The source added that police would prepare an auction to sell cattle and sheep they caught before they were smuggled to Gaza.

The tunnels were dug by Palestinians to transfer food supplies, goods and even people from Egypt into the besieged enclave.

Israel, which imposed a blockade on the densely populated enclave ever since the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas seized it in June 2007, says people also use these tunnels to transfer weapons which they use against Israelis.

This is the third week of an Egyptian operation launched to secure the borders with Gaza. Egypt has come under increasing pressure, particularly from Israel and the United States, to crack down on weapons smuggling from the Sinai Peninsula into the salient.

On March 13, the governments of Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Britain and the US agreed to coordinate efforts to curtail smuggling across the border by sharing intelligence more closely.

In February, Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak rejected a US- Israeli agreement on ending weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip signed just before former US president George W Bush left office. (dpa)