Israel’s IDF Obliterates Gaza Attack Tunnel
7 Palestinians dead, 12 wounded
The Israeli army blew up an attack tunnel, “stretching from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said in the deadliest incident in the coastal enclave since the 2014 Gaza war,” reported the Times of Israel Monday.
Israel’s Chanel 2 put the death toll at 11, but this was not confirmed by Hamas officials.
“The explosion took place inside Israeli territory. The majority of the dead were activists that entered the tunnel after it was exploded and died in the Gaza Strip, and not as a result of the explosion,” said an IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee
The IDF said the terror tunnel was discovered inside Israeli territory near the Gaza Strip and is believed to have been dug after 2014. The tunnel was being built by the Islamic Jihad terror group. It ran from the Gazan city of Khan Younis, crossed under the border for dozens of meters, and approached Kibbutz Kissufim.
The incident significantly raised tensions in the region, with leaders of the different Palestinian terror groups meeting in Gaza in a bid to formulate a response.
Israel deployed its Iron Dome rocket interceptors in the area and declared a closed military zone near the Gaza border in case the Palestinians tried to respond with rocket fire.
“We are not interested in an escalation but we are ready for all scenarios” Adraee said.
Professor Jacobson and David Gerstman have covered the Israeli fight to squash terrorist tunnels, including the 2014 skirmish extensively:
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Israeli civilian bus bombed near Jerusalem, as Hamas tunnel into Israel found
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Tunnels keep collapsing on Hamas members
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One People built tunnels, the other a nation
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Gaza War: Flights resume to Ben-Gurion, more tunnel war and casualties (Live Updates)
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Gaza War – More tunnel infiltrations thwarted (Live Updates)
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First Night of Gaza Ground Invasion: The Tunnel War
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“The explosion took place inside Israeli territory. The majority of the dead were activists that entered the tunnel after it was exploded and died in the Gaza Strip, and not as a result of the explosion,” said an IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee.
One would think that after the large boom and the burst of dust out of the Gaza end of the tunnel, nobody could be foolish enough to send people into the empty wrecked… Oh.
I find it much more informative that Israel was able to accurately identify the number of dead and wounded from the post-blast activity. That indicates surveillance, and the unwritten “Don’t do that again” that goes along with it.
the Paleostinians are damned lucky i’m not in charge of such things…
i’d pump the tunnel full or propane & O2, then set off a spark, just like an over sized gopher tunnel.
the collateral damage from it collapsing on their side? all their fault for using civilian areas to mask militarily valid targets.
Unfortunately the Israeli government’s so-called “legal advisor” (in reality unelected dictator) would “advise” you not to, and the courts say you are required to accept his “advice” or else. Israeli democracy is a sham, because the elected government is subject to the dictates of the self-perpetuating legal establishment, which sees its mission as preserving “enlightened values” against a benighted electorate.
That is sounding suspiciously like the latest machinations from the US Federal courts.
You are of course correct. And the Israeli legal establishment puts us all at risk. It establishes the precedent, or at least the appearance, that it isn’t enough to abide by the Law of Armed Conflict. That first world nations must go above and beyond the requirements of the LOAC. This isn’t conjecture on my part. European officials have openly said they hold the Israelis to a higher standard than they do the Arab terrorists in the disputed territories.
I would say it’s just rank antisemitism on their part. And in some ways it is. Try to find Konigsberg on a map. I’ll cut to the chase; you can’t. It’s Kaliningrad now and has been since 1946. The right of conquest is an old principle; if a country is the victim of unprovoked aggression and they seize territory from the aggressor they get to keep it.
I think that as a mistake in the case of the Soviets as they were arguably just as much aggressors as the Third Reich (see the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement and the coordinated Soviet/Nazi division of Poland). But nonetheless the US and UK decided to recognize their claim to the former German enclave.
As I said the right of conquest is an old principle, but apparently different rules apply to the Jews.
But then different rules apply to us, too. Just like with Israel It doesn’t matter how many war crimes our enemies commit they’re never held responsible. They can weaponize mosques, hospitals, schools, etc., i.e. sites that per the LOAC are off the targeting list. But if a force militarizes such sites they have a) committed a war crime and b) turned those sites into legitimate targets. And the war criminals are per the LOAC responsible for any civilian casualties that result for their deliberate failure to distinguish themselves from the civilian population.
If the opposing force routinely commits such war crimes, the LOAC permits the IDF and US forces to conduct reprisals. Imagine if we actually strictly adhered to the principles of the LOAC. First of all we’d wipe out our enemies, and second the anti-Israeli/anti-American left on both sides of the Atlantic as well as the 57 member Organization of Islamic Cooperation would scream bloody murder and declare the civilian/military leadership of both countries war criminals.
And they’d have to invent war crimes out of thin air as both Israel and the US would be entirely within international law. As the members of the OIC members continue to back the terrorists and war criminals.
The bottom line is that the Israeli legal establishment, which I understand is decidedly leftist, has essentially conceded the point to their country’s enemies. And ours. That we must fight defensive wars in ways that ensure we can’t win them. If it starts to look like we have devised ways to get around their enmity for us and their obvious love of our enemies they’ll just raise the bar based on non-existent standards that they have to imagine into being. And they have and never had the right to do that.
We should read the Israeli government the riot act and tell them no more military support unless they enforce their rights under the LOAC.
I was thinking the same thing. Propane would be the solution as you couldn’t redirect a gas main(because they do not have them) into the tunnel so that there would be a hundred 100 foot massive flame burning everything on the other end for a few hours until the gas is turned off.
ain’t this just a DAMN shame?
Well done!!
Some people just have to test the electric fence by p***ing on it. Darwin lives!
Red has the right idea… as a veteran of the ground squirrel wars, I have cred.
A bunch of dirty terrorists suffocated in the dark. That warms my heart.
“…activists?”
My anti-tunneling suggestion is this: Have a fence on the border, and another set back, say 150 feet. Then another fence, with a trench, maybe 6 feet deep and wide down the middle. In the middle of the trench pound in mental poles, maybe 30 feet. Now set up water drip system on each pipe. If there is tunneling, that water will find it’s way into the tunnel. Of course, a little water isn’t a problem. But that water will carry some dirt with it, and the water will move at increasing speeds. Those on top notice where the increase water flow is, and add more water. Tunneling in mud isn’t a problem. The problem will come when a bigger and bigger hole is created where water and dirt are washing into the tunnel.
I’d say send vicious dogs into the tunnels but that might be cruelty to animals.
Could they legally fill the tunnels with phosgene? It is heavy so it would stay down in the tunnels. Although, it would not be as dramatic as propane, O2, and a match.
Or, perhaps fill the tunnels with a corrosive gas that would damage anything in the tunnels including the walls?
VX. Slime the tunnels with VX, and just sit back and watch the fun.
Somehow I get the idea that gassing people might not go over too well in Israel.
Just saying.
A hole in one.
I like the comment of filling the tunnels & any future one’s found with propane & a match. Let it be known that this will be the rule.