Israeli citizens are used to living under constant threat. Israel has been in an official state of war since the day it was founded in 1948. This is just part of the Israeli “routine.” In fact, it doesn't even prevent Israelis from being ranked first or second in terms of “happiness,” as evidenced in the UN World Happiness Report, polls by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and other surveys. Only one threat rouses Israelis to true panic: Hamas' tunnels.

There is something about the tunnel phenomenon that elicits a deep fear in the toughest of Israelis. Residents of the Gaza envelope don't sleep so well thinking that Islamic jihadis might emerge at any given moment from the depths of the earth in the heart of a kibbutz to kill or abduct them and disappear without a trace. In recent weeks, this threat returned to the Israeli public's attention in a major way.

On Feb. 3, Hamas announced the collapse of a tunnel in the midst of construction. Evidently, at least two Hamas activists or fighters were killed and eight injured. A similar collapse had occurred a few days earlier, killing seven people. Hamas had tried to hide these events, but without much success.

According to the organization, the latter tunnel was the one kidnappers used to abduct the Israeli soldier Oron Shaul during Operation Protective Edge, in July 2014. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has confirmed that the movement is swiftly renovating its tunnel system. The Palestinians claim that they have already reached the same subterranean capabilities they had on the eve of Operation Protective Edge, but Israel's top brass believe that to be a wild exaggeration — although no one doubts the digging operation is around the clock, in shifts. They are trying to fix as many tunnels as possible to allow Hamas to restore its assault capacity against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).