Another battle in the “tunnel brain war” being waged in the recent year between Hamas and Israel ended April 18, when Israel removed the gag order from the great drama that had been unfolding on the Gaza Strip border over the last two weeks. During the recent weekend, the entire area was placed under alert. The Palestinians reported heightened activity of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) along the border of the Strip and an enormous amount of heavy engineering equipment operating in the zone. The IDF concentrated large forces in the region, local residents were ordered to remain alert and rumors spread throughout the length and breadth of the zone, from the Gaza Strip to Israel and back.
On April 18 before noon, the gag order was lifted. News reports were released that the IDF had located, uncovered and neutralized a cross-border Hamas attack tunnel dozen of meters long into Israeli territory in the southern Gaza Strip sector. This was the first tunnel uncovered by Israel since the conclusion of the Protective Edge campaign in the summer of 2014.
Ever since the tunnel was located about two weeks ago, a heavy news blackout was imposed on the entire area. The Israeli media was not allowed to report about it in light of the fact that IDF soldiers had penetrated the tunnel and were working around the clock to neutralize it, including within Palestinian territory. Only after the tunnel was sealed off was the gag order on the story lifted.
This discovery shows the tremendous efforts that Israel is investing in its attempt to solve the tunnel conundrum via innovative Israeli technology. The technology, nicknamed “Iron Dome for tunnels” (in reference to the Iron Dome air defense system), has also been under a severe media ban. In recent months, the Gaza Strip border has been humming with dozens of IDF bulldozers and hundreds of drillers who drilled to a depth of dozens of meters in hundreds of spots the length of the Israel-Gaza Strip border. Israel’s Engineering Corps uses technological tools, and this technological network allows the IDF to pinpoint the location of cross-border attack tunnels that penetrate Israeli territory. Thus far, Israel has invested about 300 million shekels ($80 million) in this technology.
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