Egyptian forces have killed nearly three dozen people so far in its fight against jihadis in the volatile Sinai peninsula , the army said Saturday . The deaths occurred during an ongoing Egyptian operation against militants near the Palestinian territory of Gaza , a military spokesman said , according to state media . Sinai has fallen into a state of lawlessness since the uprising that toppled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last year . Both Israel and the United States have voiced their concern about the rise of terrorist cells in the Sinai . Soldiers killed 32 suspected terrorists and destroyed 31 tunnels connecting Gaza and Egypt since a military offensive in the region began last month , said spokesman Col. Ahmad Mohamed Ali . Scores of tunnels have been used for smuggling everyday goods to Palestinian civilians because of an Israeli trade strictures . Weaponry has also been smuggled . Gaza tunnel economy hit by clampdown . Ali said soldiers have seized unmanned drones to be used for attacks . They also confiscated rifles , anti-aircraft machine guns , mortar launchers , artillery ammunition , anti-tank mines , and vehicles . Troops have arrested several dozen people . Israeli and Egyptian authorities have coordinated to allow the helicopter gunships and heavy machinery into the demilitarized zone in accord with the Camp David agreement signed in 1979 . Ali said the military operations do n't breach the treaty . Once called Operation Eagle , now Operation Sinai , the offensive started after more than a dozen Egyptian soldiers were killed and seven others were wounded in an August 5 attack near the Rafah border crossing with Gaza . The assailants stole two armored vehicles from Egyptian forces and tried to enter Israel . Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy has visited the Gaza border and vowed to bring justice to those affected . He dismissed several security officials and the governor of North Sinai province in the wake of the attack .
more than a dozen people have been killed , Egyptian forces said . Tunnels linking Gaza and Egypt have been destroyed . Sinai has been in a state of lawlessness . Assailants killed More than 30 Egyptian soldiers August 5 .