Hamas has dug ‘several tunnels’ into Israel, in new Iran-funded war drive
By Stuart Winer
TV report says Israel wary of tackling new threat for fear of triggering war; Hamas fighter held by Israel spilling info on latest plans
In footage captured by al-Mayadeen, apparently during the current truce, Hamas Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades fighters are seen preparing rockets to launch against Israel in a tunnel underneath the Gaza Strip, August 2014. (screen capture, YouTube)
A year after a bitter 50-day war, Hamas has again dug numerous attack tunnels from Gaza into Israeli sovereign territory, and is gearing up with major Iranian assistance for another conflict, a TV report said Tuesday. year after a bitter 50-day war, Hamas has again dug numerous attack tunnels from Gaza into Israeli sovereign territory, and is gearing up with major Iranian assistance for another conflict, a TV report said Tuesday.
The Israel Defense Forces has confirmed that “not a small number” of terror tunnels have been dug by Hamas under the border into Israel, including one in the area of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, Israel’s Channel 10 reported.
According to the report, Israel has “information” on the tunnels, and has troops “working around the clock” to grapple with the threat. However, Israel prefers to wait rather than send troops into the Hamas-held Gaza Strip to tackle the tunnel network there, because it knows that if it does so, it will trigger a new war.
Iran’s assistance in the new Hamas war effort includes cash, military training for Hamas fighters, weaponry, and electronics equipment including for use against Israeli drones, the report said.
Hamas has also been training fighters in the use of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, and is training recruits to fly paragliders across the border.
The report elaborated on material released earlier in the day by Israel’s Shin Bet security service. The agency on Tuesday morning published details of information on Hamas’s preparations for war that it said it had obtained from a Hamas fighter and tunnel digger who was arrested last month at the border. Ibraheem Adel Shehadeh Shaer has provided a wealth of information on the terror group’s tunnel-digging in the Gaza Strip, its strategy for a future conflict with Israel, and its methods for obtaining cash from Iran, the Shin Bet said.
A photo released by the IDF shows a Hamas tunnel discovered by soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade in the Northern Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014. (photo credit: IDF Spokesperson/Flash90)
Hamas member Ibraheem Adel Shehadeh Shaer, who was arrested by Israeli security forces in July 2015. (Shin Bet)
The Hamas member provided data on tunnels in the Rafah area, including digging locations, access shafts, diggers and the routes of the tunnels. He also revealed that a new road recently laid down by Hamas near the border fence was installed for the purpose of carrying out surprise attacks using vehicles that would speed over the border into Israel.
Shaer, 21, a resident of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, was arrested in early July as he tried to cross at the Erez border crossing from Gaza into Israel.
Under questioning by security officials, he disclosed a plethora of details about Hamas activities in Rafah, and in particular Hamas’s emergency procedures, as well as its intention to use tunnels dug under the border to attack Israel in a future fight.
Shaer told investigators that in recent months he had worked on some of the tunnels and was shown a passage dug from Rafah that led in the direction of the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Israel, the Shin Bet said in a statement.
Stuart Winer
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
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