Hamas' armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and the terrorist group's various security branches simulated an IDF ground incursion as part of a surprise drill held in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
During the drill, Izzedine al-Qassam fighters deployed in various parts of Gaza where civilian traffic had been halted.
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Reports from Gaza on Tuesday said that as part of the drill, fishing was stopped and a high level of alert was in play. A curfew was declared on some of the streets in the various towns in Gaza.
Hamas forces fanned out along Gaza's land borders and closed crossings to traffic by civilians and vehicles.
Officials in Gaza estimated that the drill had been prepared ahead of time, possibly in the expectation of another military conflict with Israel in the next few weeks.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Gaza confirmed that a drill had taken place to evaluate the readiness of the Gaza rescue forces and emergency network to handle a "state of emergency."
Meanwhile, the IDF thinks that a tunnel dug from the Gaza Strip under the border into Israel that was exposed near Kerem Shalom on Monday is an old one. IDF forces have spent the last two days following the tunnel route. This was the 18th tunnel exposed by the IDF since Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014.
