by Benson Agoha
Israeli Defence Forces have exposed a "massive Gazan terror tunnel" that run deep into
Israel, according to reports by the Times of Israel.
The tunnel, a passageway said to reach ‘hundreds of meters’ into Israel is supposedly to be
used by Hamas to send in forces for kidnap, terror attacks, according to military sources.
The Israeli military announced on Friday that it had uncovered a tunnel from Gaza into
Israel, meant for carrying out a terror attack, ToI said.
According officials, the tunnel was uncovered on Tuesday and reaches hundreds of meters inside Israel, “near civilian communities.” The army said the tunnel went as deep as dozens of meters underground.
*Exposed: the newly exposed tunnel in a handout photo released by the IDF, March 21,
2014, according to Times of Israel.
ToI said reliable sources from the Army was quoted on TV as saying Hamas had intended to use the tunnel to send “large armed force” into Israel to carry out kidnapping and/or terror attacks.
It said there were indications that the army believed further such tunnels were being dug under the border.
An IDF official said the tunnel was one of the largest, if not the largest, yet discovered, adding that the army still did not know how far it went.
“This advanced tunnel was intended to pose a direct link and threat to Israeli territory, and enable Hamas terrorists to reach and harm Israeli civilians,” IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said in a statement.
But the report said, far from denying it, Hamas preempted the IDF announcement, calling
the discovery an old tunnel under repair.
Hamas reportedly said on Thursday night that the IDF had found an “old” tunnel already
blown up by the army, but which they had begun to repair, with the group’s
Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing saying at a press conference that a winter
storm had exposed the tunnel, and not the IDF.
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