Israeli troops’ alleged discovery of Hamas’ arms smuggling tunnels along the southern Gaza border with Egypt threatens ties between the two countries as Brazil has recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv.

Israel’s military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari announced “operational control” of the 14-kilometer Philadelphi corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border, which is suspected to be used by Hamas for weapons smuggling through 20 tunnels discovered by troops there.

Egypt, a longtime mediator in the conflict, denied there are smuggling tunnels running beneath the buffer zone.

“Israel is using these allegations to justify continuing the operation on the Palestinian city of Rafah and prolonging the war for political purposes,” a high-level Egyptian source was quoted as saying by state-linked Al-Qahera News.

Egyptian officials also said a potential Israeli takeover of Philadelphi could violate the two countries’ landmark 1979 peace deal, though there has been no official comment from Cairo since the military’s announcement.

The takeover of the Philadelphi corridor followed Israeli forces’ offensive in Rafah to eliminate Hamas terrorists responsible for the 7 October attack on Israel that killed more than a thousands Israelis, mostly civilians.

A strike on a displacement camp over the weekend that killed dozens drew a wave of fresh condemnation.

Meanwhile, Israel’s public reprimand of Brazilian Ambassador Frederico Meyer in Hebrew without a translator present in Jerusalem led to Brasilia’s recall of him, a diplomatic source told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday. 

The source said conditions had not been met for Meyer to return to Israel and there are no immediate plans to replace him.