“The military wing has ensured the preparedness of our tunnels some time ahead of schedule”, the Hamas source said.
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Palestinians inspect the damage after Egyptian forces flooded smuggling tunnels dug beneath the Gaza-Egypt border, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on September 18, 2015.
According to sources speaking to AFP, Mr. Eshtawi’s duties included the overseeing of the tunnel network that has in the past been used to store weapons and carry out attacks against Israel. He boasted that Hamas has dug twice the number of tunnels the North Vietnamese had in their long war with America.
On Monday, a 24-year-old Palestinian man was killed when a tunnel collapsed in Gaza. It quoted an Al Jazeera report that said that by August 2014 as many as 400 had been killed in the tunnels.
Hamas controls Gaza but an Israeli blockade severely restricts the movement of people and goods in and out of the territory, and Egypt’s sole border with Gaza has also remained largely closed since 2013.
Since the end of the 50-day war on Gaza in the summer of 2014, the military wing of Hamas has been issuing video footage of its fighters from inside the tunnels.
In a recent speech, Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obaida warned Israel against even considering a fresh onslaught. The underground tunnels are essential to provide residents of Gaza with many products that would otherwise not make it over the border including food, medicine, fuel, and building materials.
What’s more, he went on, in the event of rapprochement between Turkey and Israel, the Gaza Strip’s humanitarian situation would likely improve.
The Hamas leader further highlighted the power of the resistance group, saying the equations of deterrence have changed and Hamas has become part of the Axis of Resistance in the region.
“Currently, there are political factors that would likely prevent – or at least delay – any new military encounter between Israel and the resistance in Gaza”, he said.
Abu Hamza went on, “In any future confrontation, Israelis will be surprised by the strength and solidity of these tunnels, which can withstand Israeli shelling and concussion bombs fired by the Israeli aircraft or tanks”.
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“Let’s say that if Sisi did do it, it’s to a large extent due to requests and pressure from us”, he said.
