Egypt moved 5,000 more security forces near the Gaza Strip border on Saturday after an Israeli report said Israel may bomb tunnels used for smuggling weapons into Palestinian territories, an Egyptian official said.

The 5,000 Egyptians were members of the police?s central security force. They joined about 750 border guards already deployed along the area known as the Philadelphi Corridor, fearing the possible operation?s impact on civilians living on the Egyptian side of the border.

The Israeli daily Maariv reported on Friday that precision-guided weapons would be used to penetrate deep underground in the hope of destroying the tunnel network that the Jewish state says riddles the area, which is 14 km long and approximately 100 metres wide.

The decision to use ?smart? bombs may be a substitute to reoccupying the entire region, the newspaper said. Israel says it has been unable to control weapons smuggling into Gaza since it withdrew its forces from the coastal strip last year.

?We are following the situation with extreme concern and we have not received any warnings from the Israeli side about this operation,? one Egyptian official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Israeli army declined to comment on the report.