Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened Hamas, last Sunday, if it used tunnels in possible attacks against Israel.
Advertisement
Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) recommended during a recent cabinet meeting that Israel carry out a military operation to combat Hamas’s underground tunnel threat instead of waiting for the next round of hostilities with the Palestinian terrorist group.
He added that Islamic State fighters enter Gaza though the same tunnel network that Hamas uses to smuggle arms and explosives.
On February 8, a Palestinian man died when a tunnel collapsed on him in the latest in a series of deadly Gaza tunnel collapses.
Share with Us – We’d love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article, and smart, constructive criticism.
The Hamas tunnel-building campaign has been a security issue in Israel for some time, and has led to fears that an attack on Israeli civilians could come at any time. Some 155 Palestinians, 110 of whom Israel says were attackers, were killed by Israeli fire during that time.
Meanwhile, the head of Hamas’ political wing Khaled Mashaal rejected an offer from Iran for renewed financial aid.
“Let’s say that if Sisi did do it, it’s to a large extent due to requests and pressure from us”, he said. He said the 2014 war was a “watershed moment” and Israel has since directed considerable attention to the tunnels, but that the threat was likely to persist for decades.
Medical sources said that one of the local Palestinian workers was found dead in one of the tunnels in the southern Gaza town of Rafah that collapsed Monday morning.
The Gaza Strip has seen three wars with Israel since 2008.
The Palestinian government said on Tuesday it was ready to step down to enable a new national unity government, as rivals Fatah and Hamas engaged in a new reconciliation effort.
Advertisement
Responding to the announcement, Sari Bashi, the Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, called it “another extra-judicial killing by forces linked to Hamas”.
