In response to continued attempts by Hamas to plant improvised explosive devices (IEDs) the Gaza border fence with Israel, Israel attacked numerous sites inside the Gaza Strip and destroyed two terror tunnels, one of which had crossed the border into Israel, The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday.
According to the IDF, it had discovered one of the tunnels that extended from Rafah inside the Gaza Strip into Eshkol Regional Council in southern Israel a few weeks ago. According to the IDF, the tunnel posed no threat to residents of the area.
The tunnel was neutralized tonight by an engineering action led by the IDF Southern Command operating within Israeli territory to protect its civilians and sovereignty. The IDF does not wish to escalate the situation, but we stand ready and prepared for a variety of scenarios pic.twitter.com/iGqrLMV79O
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) March 18, 2018
“The IDF foiled an attempt by the Hamas terrorist organization to rebuild an offensive terrorist tunnel in Rafiah in the southern Gaza Strip,” IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis said.
Israel said that one of the tunnels was flooded with a material that made it impossible for Hamas to use again. The operation was carried out by Israel’s Southern Command and was conducted within Israeli territory. The other tunnel, located in the area of Zeitoun in Gaza was destroyed by an Israeli air strike.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the army for “systematically” knocking out Hamas’s terror tunnel infrastructure. He also noted that international aid to Hamas “gets buried underground,” and asked the international community to take note.
“It doesn’t matter who placed the IED on the fence,” Manelis said of the provocation that led to the Israeli retaliation, “Hamas is responsible for everything that goes on in the Strip. Israel will not allow Hamas to use the Gaza fence as a staging ground for attacks.”
He added, “Hamas invests enormous resources in building underground terror tunnels instead of investing in the Gaza Strip and providing welfare to its residents. The attempt to rebuild the tunnel shows that Hamas finds it difficult to accept the collapse of the tunnel project and continues to waste the money needed for Gaza residents to breathe.”
In January, American Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt blasted Hamas for wasting “resources on tunnels & rockets to attack Israel, instead of helping the people of Gaza by getting the lights on, the water flowing & the economy growing.”
Greenblatt’s criticism of Hamas echoes a comment made in January by an IDF officer who noted that in recent months there has been a fifty percent drop in commercial goods brought into Gaza because Hamas is using funds to build up its arsenal instead. The officer noted that “a lack of funds is not the problem in Gaza.”
The Times of Israel’s Avi Issacharoff reported in March 2016 on a scheme where Hamas enriched itself using Qatari money that was intended to build homes for Gazans. Although the homes were meant to be free, Hamas charged families $40,000 each, ostensibly to connect utilities, collecting an estimated $38 million to fund its other activities.
Palestinian affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh pointed out a month earlier that Hamas has prioritized building up its terror infrastructure over rebuilding Gazan homes, writing that “the last thing Hamas cares about is the welfare of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
[Photo: Military Times / YouTube]