BICOM

Israel’s army yesterday discovered a tunnel which traversed beneath the Gaza border into Israel. Hamas later admitted it was responsible for its construction. It is the fourth time in the past year and a half that the IDF has uncovered such a tunnel.

Israeli forces have now begun to unearth the entire route of the tunnel, but it is thought to stretch to around 1,800 metres, of which 300 metres is situated in Israeli territory. According to an Israeli army assessment, the tunnel had not yet been used, but was primed for future terror activities.

Later in the day, Hamas’ military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade held a press conference at which it admitted that it had constructed the tunnel. However, the group denied that it was newly discovered by Israeli forces, saying “This tunnel is not new, but one that Israel had already unveiled in the past and our people worked to rebuild after a recent collapse due to extreme weather conditions.” The Hamas group added, “The enemy should not be happy about its false achievements. We will continue to be the occupation’s nightmare.”

Yesterday’s tunnel discovery was the fourth of its kind during the past eighteen months. All three previous tunnels discovered have been found to originate near the south-central Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis. Most notably, in October, the IDF revealed that it had found a huge 1.7 kilometre-long tunnel. Reaching as deep as twenty two metres, it included an electrical system, a phone line and although incomplete, utilised 25,000 concrete slabs in a project which the Israeli army estimated had taken eighteen months. Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since violently overthrowing the Fatah faction in 2007, also admitted responsibility for this tunnel and spokesman Abu Obaida said it had been constructed with the intention of kidnapping Israelis.