The Israeli Defense Forces uncovered and destroyed a Hamas attack tunnel penetrating southern Israel, the first to be detected since the end of the military campaign in Gaza in the summer of 2014.
The tunnel was about 30 to 40 meters underground, lined with concrete slabs and equipped with communication lines, air supply and rails for further excavation, and it was high enough for men to stand in it. It was discovered last week although its existence was confirmed only on Monday. The tunnel entered Israel in an area some distance from Israeli military bases and civilian homes and extended several hundred meters into Israeli terroritory.
Hamas 'military wing boasted that the discovery, which it said was east of the southern Gazan city of Rafah, was "only a drop in the ocean of what the resistance has prepared in order defend our people, the freedom of the holy places and its land and captives." Hamas' Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian terror organization which runs the Gaza Strip, claimed the IDF had not "dared" to publish the full details of the tunnels for fear of scaring Israelis.
During the war, Israel discovered 32 tunnels emanating from the Gaza Strip, including 14 that extended into Israeli territory, according to a UN report on the conflict.
