Egypt is planning to deploy 5,000 additional troops along its border with the Gaza Strip in the event of a possible Israel Defense Forces operation against arms smuggling, an Egyptian source said late Saturday.

The additional force of mostly police officers will join the 750 officers and soldiers already deployed along the Philadelphi Route, a strip of land along the Egypt-Gaza border that has been used to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian Authority.

Officials in Jerusalem said early Sunday that Israel had been given no information regarding a planned increased Egyptian military presence at the Gaza border, Israel Radio reported.

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The officials said that Egypt had agreed to deploy 750 troops at the border, and would not deploy as many as 5,000 even if it were to buff up its forces, according to the radio.

The Egyptian source had said that the increased military and police presence was to serve as a precaution against possible IDF bombing of tunnels used for smuggling weapons into Gaza.

"We are monitoring the situation with concern, but we have yet to receive an official warning from Israel regarding an upcoming operation," said an Egyptian officer.

According to Egyptian security officials, an IDF operation in the area could harm some 20,000 Egyptian citizens living in the vicinity of the border. "There are schools, banks, markets and homes [in the area]," said an Egyptian source.

An Israeli military source said later on Saturday: "Anything that will take place along the Philadelphi Route will be reported to the Egyptian authorities in advance."

Earlier on Saturday, Egyptian police seized one ton of explosives in a mountainous zone of the Sinai Peninsula near the border with Israel, an Egyptian security official said.

The explosives were discovered Friday by Bedouin nomads working as trackers for Egyptian authorities in the Rissan mountain range some 30
kilometers west of the Israeli border, said the security official. He was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Security forces and suspected terrorists had clashed in gun battles last May around the area where the explosives were found, the official said. The material was found packed in 15 plastic bags and covered with palm treeleaves, he said.

Hundreds of security forces, tanks and armored vehicles were deployed to the mountain area, searching for suspects.

The explosives, mostly TNT, appeared to be of the same kind than what was used in a series of terror attacks on Sinai beach resorts over the past two years, the official said.

Islamic militants have carried out three major bomb attacks in Sinai's tourist resorts since October 2004, killing a total of 124 people.