During the recent Gaza war, which was sparked when the terrorist network of Hamas began firing short and long-range rockets into Israel, the Palestinians suffered huge losses, both in terms of damage to infrastructure and human life.
One of the tricks which Hamas had up its sleeve to fight the Israel’s was an elaborate and well-built labyrinth of underground terror tunnels, leading from strategic positions within the Gaza Strip, all the way into the heart of Israel’s southern community towns.
The tunnels were only discovered by mistake by the IDF, who on interrogating Hamas operatives discovered that the tunnels had been built, at great expense, with money donated by the international community to Hamas for schools and hospitals.
The Israeli Secret Service, known as the Shin Bet, also revealed that the whole point of the tunnels was to carry out a pre-planned mass terror attack on Israeli civilians during the recent New Year’s celebrations in Israel.
Of course, as soon as the Jewish State understood that the tunnels were in place, spanning hundreds of kilometres in total, they immediately entered them, facing stiff gun battles from Hamas gunmen waiting inside, and destroyed the majority of the tunnels with explosives.
On Sunday, a reporter from the Gaza-based newspaper Al-Resalah visited the tunnels and was told by the Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, that the construction of the terror tunnels into Israel was back on, and in a big way.
The commander of the digging team, Abu-Khaled, told the Gaza reporter that the tunnel’s repairs had already started “during one of the humanitarian ceasefires reached during the war,” and were continuing in full force.
It’s no surprise to the Israeli’s that the terror tunnel construction in Gaza has resumed, as back in mid-September, the al-Qassam Brigades announced that one of its fighters, Ahmad Riyad al-Hadad, had died while engaged in “underground activities,” i.e. digging a tunnel.
And, back at the beginning of October, an al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson announced at a rally that, “the tunnels of al-Qassam are fine, thank God. Our men will begin the next battle with their feet on the ground in Nahal Oz….and the other settlements around Gaza.”
According to a senior Israeli diplomat, “ Hamas did not wait a single moment after the last round of fighting, and began its rearmament in anticipation of another round (of fighting).”
No doubt, the Israeli army, which is by far the most powerful in the Middle East, will know exactly what to do if and when Hamas terrorist try to use their new terror tunnels to attack Israeli citizens.
