Israel recently destroyed a Hamas-built tunnel leading from the Gaza Strip into the Mediterranean Sea, designed to be used by the terrorist group to carry out attacks inside Israel, the Israel Defense Forces said Sunday.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said that Israeli aircraft bombed a position belonging to Hamas' naval forces in northern Gaza, incapacitating the group's first-of-its-kind tunnel leading into the sea. He said it was designed to allow divers to slip out of Gaza undetected and attack Israeli targets. The tunnel was dug about 3 kilometers (2 miles) south of the border with Israel and stretched dozens of meters into the sea, he said.
"We knew about this tunnel for several months thanks to the intelligence provided by the Israeli Navy," a senior Israeli Navy officer said. "What makes this interesting is the part connecting the tunnel to the sea. Hamas expended a lot in building this."
"It was only 3 kilometers from the border and it was only several dozen meters long. Hamas carried out training in this tunnel involving dozens of commandos," the officer continued, adding that Hamas' military wing includes dozens of frogmen.
The assumption in Israel is that there are additional undersea tunnels, and Hamas also has diving gear that is undetectable from above water. "They are working on new naval capabilities, but we are monitoring their every step; a significant number of our strikes have been on Hamas' naval force," the officer said.
Israel has placed a high priority on eliminating the tunnel threat since waging a war with Hamas in Gaza in 2014. Channel 10 reported Sunday that the entrance of the tunnel was built inside a Gaza house, enabling Hamas to evade suspicion by entering the building in civilian clothes and donning diving suits and gearing up with weapons in an innocuous setting.
The Defense Ministry has recently announced that a special barrier would be constructed in the sea to prevent infiltration from the Gaza Strip, with a completion date set for 2019.
Meanwhile, the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet convened on Sunday to approve continued humanitarian relief to the Gaza Strip that would address the Palestinian population's water and power shortages. During the meeting, defense officials said Egypt was ratcheting up pressure on Hamas and has cut off its electricity supply to the enclave.
