The Israeli army announced on Monday (15) that it blocked a tunnel dug by Hamas that would serve as a passage for the radical Islamist group to infiltrate Israeli territory.
Palestinians used tunnels to surprise Israeli forces during the 2014 Gaza War. Since then, Israeli intelligence has been developing tunnel detection technologies and building an underground concrete barrier with sensors to thwart any attempts to excavate beyond the border. .
The Israeli army has uncovered a number of tunnels in recent years. The last of them had been neutralized last year, but two roads that lead to Israel were being reactivated by Hamas, according to a statement from the organ. Hamas failed to break through the concrete barrier, however.
Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum says the group has “the right to use all means to strengthen and develop its potential” and that Israel’s pronouncement signals “false exploits” to the world.
The Israeli army’s announcement comes about a week after an escalation in border violence, in which Israeli forces bombed Palestinian targets and militants from the radical Islamic Jihad group sent hundreds of rockets toward Israel.
Israel focused its three-day operation on the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad while avoiding direct confrontations with the largest and most powerful Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza coast since 2007. An Israeli army spokesman said the body was aware of the tunnel, but waited for last week’s operation to be completed to intervene.
According to him, this was a “non-kinetic operation”. This means that Israel flooded the tunnel to deactivate it. He also claims that the tunnel, deep, was quite advanced.
