JERUSALEM—A tunnel from the Gaza Strip extending half a mile into Israel has recently been uncovered, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Heavy rains caused a collapse that exposed one of the exits being prepared at the Israeli end. It was spotted by an Israeli farmer who summoned the army.
Army sources said the sophisticated tunnel, which was seven feet high and had concrete arches for stability, was apparently being prepared for a raid, either on a military target or one of several nearby Israeli kibbutzim. The tunnel, 20 yards deep in sections, extended further into Israel than any other thus far exposed.
A simpler tunnel dug under the border eight years ago enabled Gaza militants to penetrate into Israel and capture an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was held captive five years before being exchanged for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Israeli army patrols periodically cross the border into Gaza in order to detect digging operations.
The Palestinians in Gaza have considerable expertise in digging tunnels, mostly for commercial purposes. Some 1,200 have been dug into Sinai in order to bring in a wide range of goods, including food, car parts, building materials, drugs, and rockets. Livestock and people also make this underground passage. Many of the tunnels are reported to be of high engineering quality with electricity, ventilation, and intercoms.
The military government in Cairo, which is antagonistic to the Hamas leadership in Gaza because of its support for ousted president Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, claims to have shut down or destroyed by flooding most of these tunnels in the past year.
Although there is an official crossing point between Gaza and Sinai, which is Egyptian territory, Egypt opens it only intermittently. Israel also has crossing points into Gaza but it carefully monitors goods passing through to prevent passage of material that could be used for military purposes.
This is perhaps the most difficult time for Hamas since it took over the Gaza Strip after Israel’s withdrawal in 2005. Since its last major confrontation with Israel two years ago—in which 79 Palestinians were killed and 840 wounded compared to a handful of Israeli casualties—Hamas had avoided any major clash with it.
However, the emergence of a military government in Cairo last year was a major strategic setback.
Hamas has traditionally leaned on Egypt as a support, direct or indirect, against Israel. However, the new Egyptian military government is antagonistic to Hamas, accusing it of supporting Jihad fighters in the Sinai Peninsula who have been engaged in bloody clashes with Egyptian troops. The closing of tunnels from Sinai was a major economic blow for Hamas since it derived much of its income by taxing the tunnel operators.
At a mass rally in Gaza on Sunday, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh attempted to raise the spirits of the movement’s followers. "We are living through a difficult stage and harsh challenges," he said. "But we are not defeated."