World
The Israeli military said on Sunday it had destroyed a cross-border attack tunnel that ran from Gaza into Israel and Egypt, dug by the Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Palestinian enclave.
Updated : Jan 14, 2018, 01:58 PM IST
The Israeli military said on Sunday it had destroyed a cross-border attack tunnel that ran from Gaza into Israel and Egypt, dug by the Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Palestinian enclave.
Residents in Gaza said Israeli jets bombed an area east of the southern town of Rafah, by the Egyptian and Israeli borders, late on Saturday night. Israel confirmed the attack immediately after, but gave no details until Sunday.
"We understand this was a terror tunnel because it runs underneath strategic facilities," Israeli military spokesman Colonel Jonathan Conricus said, referring to gas and fuel pipelines, as well as an army position it ran under.
BUSTED: #IDF discovers and destroys yet another Hamas terrorist tunnel dug under aid crossing point. Hamas will cynically exploits the Ppl of #Gaza on a daily basis. pic.twitter.com/lllQUVmibT
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) January 14, 2018
"It could also have served to transfer terrorists from the Gaza strip into Egypt in order to attack Israeli targets from Egypt."
Hamas did not comment.
#BREAKING: Israel confirms IDF struck and destroyed a Hamas terror tunnel inside Gaza: "It was for smuggling weapons but could have been used for a terror atrack against Israeli population" pic.twitter.com/EG8bHdC593
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) January 14, 2018
Conricus said the tunnel destroyed Saturday was dug by key operatives of Hamas and was 1.5 km long (about one mile), penetrating 180 kilometres under the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Israel and into Egypt.
"It is definitely a possibility that an attack was imminent," Conricus said, but would not elaborate further.
This morning, the IDF completed the destruction of the third Hamas terror tunnel infiltrating Israeli territory in the past 2 months using the latest technology, intelligence, and operational capabilities pic.twitter.com/ZAh1biCjfN
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) January 14, 2018
Kerem Shalom, the main passage point for goods entering Gaza, was shut down on Saturday before the Israeli attack.
Tensions have risen in the region Since President Donald Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy on Dec. 6 by recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Palestinians in Gaza have launched 18 cross-border rockets or mortars and 15 protesters and two gunmen have been killed by Israeli fire.
Escalation could easily occur, even though both sides have signalled they do not want that to happen.
During the last Gaza war, in 2014, Hamas fighters used dozens of tunnels to blindside Israel’s superior forces and threaten civilian communities near the frontier.
The Israeli military said it has destroyed three such tunnels in the past two months, but that it was not seeking escalation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the tunnel was a "major terrorism infrastructure belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. "Hamas must understand that we will not allow these attacks to continue and that we will respond with even greater force," he told reporters before boarding a flight to India.
Prime Minister Netanyahu made the following remarks last night, prior to leaving on an official visit to India:
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 14, 2018
This evening, the IDF attacked a main Hamas terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. There are some who say that the IDF attacks sand dunes – this is incorrect. pic.twitter.com/nmqtXcyJPc
Israel has been constructing a sensor-equipped underground wall along the 60-km (36-mile) Gaza border, aiming to complete the $1.1 billion project by mid-2019.