The Egyptian army has destroyed three cross-border tunnels linking Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to the blockaded Gaza Strip, a military spokesman said Tuesday.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Army Colonel Tamer al-Rifai said the army had demolished three tunnels found under Egypt's border with the Hamas-run coastal enclave.

Subject to a years-long blockade by Israel, the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Palestinian movement Hamas, had come to depend on the tunnel network to import desperately-needed commodities, including food, fuel and medicine.

Since the 2013 military coup against President Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian authorities have cracked down on the tunnels along the border with Palestinian territory.

In 2014, Egyptian authorities began to establish a buffer zone in North Sinai's city of Rafah along Gaza border following a spate of militant attacks against army and police forces.

The Egyptian army had even built large pipelines along the border with the Gaza Strip and began flooding the area with seawater, leading to the death of dozens of Gazans.