Israel blows up “unique” Hamas attack tunnel, responds to rocket and mortar fire

Israel blows up “unique” Hamas attack tunnel, responds to rocket and mortar fire

We have covered the destruction of numerous Hamas and other terror group attack tunnels leading from the Gaza strip into Israel.

Our April 15, 2018, post summarized the history of terror tunnel building, which consumes enormous resources that otherwise could go to improving the lives of Gazans, Israel destroys “longest and deepest” Hamas cross-border Gaza attack tunnel.

Since that post, three more major tunnels have been detected and destroyed.

On May 12, 2018, Israel bombed a tunnel near the Erez crossing, where Gazans exit into Israel:

The Israeli military said Saturday night that it destroyed a Hamas tunnel mere meters away from Israeli territory, hitting the underground structure with a number of airstrikes.

This was the ninth Gaza tunnel destroyed by Israel since October 30. Five of them were attack tunnels that crossed the border into Israeli territory, the rest were inside the coastal enclave, more likely used to move fighters and munitions around the Strip undetected.

The Israel Defense Forces said the Hamas “terror tunnel” destroyed in airstrikes on Saturday night ran next to the Erez pedestrian crossing and was meters away from reaching into Israeli territory….

The military added that the tunnel, which originated in Beit Hanoun in the northern Strip, was “neutralized” in the strikes, but not necessarily fully destroyed. IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said the army decided to hit the tunnel with airstrikes, as opposed to more effective ground-based methods, because of a number of operational considerations, including “convenience” and the issues posed by its proximity to the Erez Crossing.

Conricus said the tunnel was approximately one kilometer (0.6 miles) long and had been under construction for several months.

The IDF had been monitoring it for “several weeks” before determining that Saturday night was the appropriate time to destroy it.

I visited the Erez Crossing in 2015:

Yet another tunnel was detected and destroyed on May 23, 2018:

Israeli planes bombed several sites throughout the Gaza Strip early Wednesday morning, including a seaport west of Gaza City and a tunnel used by Hamas, the IDF said.

The military said the strikes were carried out in response to an incident earlier in the day in which Gazans sneaked across the border and destroyed an Israeli sniper’s nest.

A third and unique “U” shaped tunnel was just blown up:

The Israeli army on Tuesday afternoon struck what it said was a Hamas tunnel in the Gaza Strip that extended hundreds of meters into Egyptian and Israeli territory.

The IDF said the U-shaped attack tunnel destroyed near Rafah and the Kerem Shalom border crossing was still under construction and not yet usable.

The military said the tunnel crossed from Gaza into Egypt and from there into southern Israel, and was intended both for smuggling weapons and for attacks against Israel.

Its full length was around 2 kilometers (1.2 miles), the army said, and the segment inside Israeli territory was 900 meters (half a mile) long.

The military discovered the tunnel in the past two weeks, an army spokesperson said.

The army called the tunnel’s design “unique.”

“This is a very long tunnel,” a source told the Ynet news site. “It also had exit shafts on the Egyptian side. The tunnel was dealt with using airstrikes [in Gaza], and in the coming hours will also be taken care of on our side to neutralize it entirely.”

Israeli officials reportedly informed Egyptian counterparts of the planned strike on the tunnel, according to Hebrew-language media. It was not clear if Israeli strikes on the tunnel included action over the border in Egypt.

Here is the map:

The IDF Spokesman tweeted this image of the inside of the tunnel. You can see how well-built it was, utilizing enormous amounts of steel and concrete:

Here is video of the bombing:

The bombing of this unique tunnel comes as Islamic Jihad and Hamas have fired over 100 mortars and rockets into Israel:

The IDF struck dozens of targets belonging to Islamic Jihad and Hamas across the length of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, after several mortar and rocket barrages were fired at Israeli communities.

In a major escalation, Islamic Jihad launched more than 70 projectiles at towns near the Gaza border; two exploded in towns in the Eshkol region, including one that hit the yard of a kindergarten shortly before the children were due to arrive….

At least 25 mortars from the barrages launched in the morning were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile-defense system, the IDF said. Several others struck open areas.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad took joint responsibility for the attacks.

The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold a meeting in New York tomorrow on the Gaza rocket attacks.

One of the rockets hit infrastructure supplying electricity to the Strip. Three power lines that supply the southern Gaza Strip were put out of commission.

The Israel Electricity Corporation said it would take several days to repair the equipment for a regular supply of electricity.

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz instructed the IEC not to put its employees in danger and to repair the damage only after the terrorists stop attacking.

Israeli retaliation and continued rocket fire is a developing story. It is not clear if it will escalate into a war like in 2014, or will pass. We will update if necessary.

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