(JNS.org) The Egyptian military said it has started flooding tunnels used by the Hamas terrorist group and other Palestinians to smuggle weapons and goods into Gaza, the BBC reported.

Last month, the Egyptian military said it had so far dug six-tenths of a mile along its 66-foot-deep trench along the Gaza border. The trench will be filled with water from the Mediterranean Sea, using pumps and pipelines, and engineers are already preparing the pumps.

Over the past year, the Egyptian military has demolished more than 1,110 homes on Egypt’s side of the Gaza border to create a buffer zone, while also destroying hundreds of smuggling tunnels.

Israeli and Egyptian officials have previously touted the idea of creating a moat along the Gaza border. In 2004, Israel floated the moat concept, but eventually dropped the plans. Egypt hopes that using commercialized fish farming will encourage investment to help subsidize the project.