On Wednesday it became known that Eitan Horn, David Cunio, and Nimrod Cohen were together in the same tunnel in the period leading up to the signing of the deal. On the night between Wednesday and Thursday last week, when the deal that led to the end of the war was signed, the terrorists woke them up with screams and announced that a deal had been signed and they were going home. One of the family members said the terrorists were happy to end their period of guarding the hostages.

The group consisted of the three of them, as mentioned, and they were in a tunnel in an isolated location and were not exposed at all to media reports. Eight months ago, during the previous deal, Ariel Cunio and Iair Horn, Eitan Horn's brother, were also with them. The farewell video of Iair Horn and Eitan Horn was published by Hamas, while the rest of the hostages who appeared in the video had blurred faces.

Hamas terrorists decided at this point in time to leave the three together and not to connect them with other hostages. One of the hostages told his relatives that in order to maintain minimal fitness, they walked back and forth many times inside the tunnel.

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Gaza's ruling Hamas terrorist group on Friday said it recovered the bodies of three men from a smuggling tunnel along the Egyptian border.

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The statement gave no cause of death. But a day earlier, the group accused Egypt of pumping poisonous gas into the tunnel. Such accusations could escalate tensions with Egypt just as the Egyptians are trying to broker a cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel. There was no immediate Egyptian comment.

Contact was lost with the smugglers late Thursday. Hamas and other terrorist factions later said that workers had died when toxic gas was pumped into a "trading tunnel," calling it "murder for which Egyptian authorities bear full responsibility."

Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007, necessary to prevent the Islamic terrorist group from smuggling weapons into the territory.

For years, Palestinians used a vast network of tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border to smuggle in everything from food and fuel to home appliances and motorcycles. Israel and Egypt said the tunnels were also used for weapons smuggling.

In 2013, Egypt began cracking down on the tunnel trade, demolishing tunnels as well as homes in the town of Rafah, which straddles the frontier, in order to create a buffer zone on its side of the border. Authorities said residents would be compensated.

Egypt has been leading mediation efforts since Israel and Hamas fought an 11-day war in May, their fourth since Hamas seized power. Hamas has demanded the easing of the blockade in return for calm, and in recent weeks has organized violent riots along the frontier with Israel.

Egypt often serves as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, and its efforts to secure a broader long-term truce have shown signs of progress in recent days. Israel this week eased the blockade to allow construction materials needed for postwar repairs into the territory. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is scheduled to visit Egypt this month.

It was not immediately known what effect Hamas' accusations against Egypt would have on the ceasefire efforts.

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This tunnel was pinpointed due to technological devices installed on the barrier, which detect digging activities or efforts to damage the barrier itself. From this perspective, this wasn't just a preventative operation, but also an event with deterrence implications. We can assume the tunnel was built to test the barrier, probe its capabilities and examine ways to bypass it. The fact that it was detected signals to the other side that it's now facing an extremely formidable challenge, which will require vast sums of money and resources if it wants to breach the barrier and penetrate Israeli territory.

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Along with this tactical-operational achievement, however, this event sheds light on two other matters: One is operative, and the second is strategic.

Operatively, it appears the terror organizations in Gaza (chief among them Hamas) haven't abandoned the tunnel idea. Despite the barrier – which should be completed in around five months – they believe they can dig and infiltrate Israel, and are determined to do so at almost any cost. Consequently, we could see efforts to dig deeper, even as deep as the aquifers, or shift the focus to the border between Gaza and Egypt, and from there dig into Israel in places where the barrier still hasn't been built.

Strategically, the event indicates that efforts are being made in Gaza to prepare for war. In recent months, the broad assessment within the defense establishment is that Hamas is weak and deterred, and does not want an escalation. The terrorist organization's actions on the ground have also been a testament: it didn't join the fighting after the assassination of senior Islamic Jihad terrorist Baha Abu Al-Atta last November, and has restrained itself following numerous incidents for which it has retaliated in the past. Hamas has also sought to promote ceasefire talks with Israel in any way possible.

These assessments are still valid. Hamas does not want a war and prefers a resolution that allows it to rehabilitate the Strip and provide calm and prosperity (relatively speaking; it is Gaza after all) to its residents. At the same time, however, Hamas is absolutely unwilling to abandon the idea of makawmeh, or resistance, which is the bedrock of its existence. And despite the lip service it is paying Egyptian mediators, the Qataris and the United Nations, Hamas was and remains a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

Therefore, when Hamas digs tunnels, it is essentially signaling to its people and the public in Gaza that although it has perhaps altered its tactics its strategy remains the same – and that even if takes a while, it will return to its previous path.

To this end, it continues to invest in its rocket arsenal and other systems earmarked for use in a future war with Israel – which could very well erupt in the near-term without either side wanting it. After all, Gaza is Gaza, and is as combustible as ever – perhaps even more so because of the economic situation and the coronavirus outbreak there.

Israeli officials are cognizant of this volatility and are trying to stave off another round of fighting. Parallel to detecting the underground tunnel, defense officials are working vigorously to advance an array of civilian and humanitarian projects in Gaza to foster long-term peace and quiet. But no one is under any illusions: As per the old cliché, which always applies to the Middle East and was proven true again on Tuesday, he who wants peace (or even quiet), should prepare for war.

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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 18^th tunnel exposed by the IDF since Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014.

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Israeli troops are currently investigating the tunnel's route, the military said.

In recent years, Hamas has developed a sophisticated network of concrete tunnels, including many that are built for cross-border attacks against Israel.

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Earlier on Monday, the IDF shot down a small drone that breached Israeli airspace from the Gaza Strip.

The drone was spotted by Israeli radar systems as it was flying over the border in northern Gaza. It was tracked until it was later downed by air defense systems. The IDF recovered the debris for further investigation.

The Hamas terrorist group that rules Gaza has developed a drone program with Iranian assistance. The drones are typically used for reconnaissance along the Israel-Gaza frontier and it's unclear if they are capable of carrying out attacks.

Israel has been constructing the subterranean barrier with Gaza for the past two years. Some 40 kilometers (25 miles) of it have already been completed out of the planned 68 kilometers (42 miles).

Above ground, the new barrier is designed to block Gaza terror operatives' view of the roads and train lines that run along the border and are vulnerable to attacks.

Since Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in 2014, the IDF has detected and destroyed 17 Hamas terror tunnels.

The IDF intends to finish constructing the entire barrier by the end of 2019, in an effort to completely eliminate the tunnel threat from Gaza.

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Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told reporters during a tour of the tunnel that it was "the longest and deepest attack tunnel that Hezbollah dug," plunging more than 80 meters (260 feet) – about the height of a 22-story building – below ground.

Israel launched "Operation Northern Shield" in December to find and destroy what it said were six Hezbollah tunnels burrowed into Israeli territory for the purpose of attacking soldiers and civilians. Hezbollah has not commented.

Conricus said the IDF has "now completed this operation" and that "it is safe to say that there are no more Hezbollah cross-border attack tunnels from Lebanon into Israel."

The Hezbollah tunnel had been fitted with electrical wiring, fuse boxes and communications equipment, and began almost a mile inside Lebanon near the town of Zarit.

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The IDF reported that the latest tunnel constituted the largest construction of its kind, being dug at a depth of 80 meters (260 feet), the equivalent of a 22-story building, and 757 meters (2,500 feet) long. The tunnel was dug south of the Lebanese village of Ramiyah and by the time it was finished, extended 77 meters (250 feet) into Israeli territory.

The tunnel featured railway tracks, phone lines, a PA system, electrical cables, a water pipe and pumps, lighting, climbing ropes and air conditioning.

At a depth of 56 meters (184 feet), the IDF also discovered a large space that might have been plotted for use as a staging ground for cross-border invasions.

The tunnel, whose details the IDF exposed Wednesday, was one of the hardest for the army to locate during Operation Northern Shield at the beginning of the year, despite its massive size. To pinpoint its location, the army drilled dozens of exploratory holes in the surrounding area.

IDF engineers decided against blowing up the tunnel and plan to fill it in with concrete. A section of the tunnel will be left as-is, to help Israel explain the threats it faces from Hezbollah's violation of Resolution 1701.

"When we found the tunnel, we were all excited, even the former chief of staff," said Lt. Col. Avshalom Dadon, commander of combat engineering for the IDF's 91^st Division.

"When we dropped a camera down [there] and saw the infrastructure, we realize that this ... tunnel] infrastructure we had never encountered before. It's one of the biggest 'flagship' tunnels I've seen," Dadon said.

As of Wednesday night, there were no reactions from Lebanon, Hezbollah or UNIFIL, the UN force in charge of monitoring the cease-fire in southern Lebanon.

Parts of this were originally published by i24NEWS. Read more at https://www.i24news.tv/en.

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