On the night between Dec. 9 and Dec. 10, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) destroyed a cross-border underground Hamas tunnel that penetrated hundreds of meters into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. A month and a half ago, on Oct. 31, the IDF had destroyed another tunnel from the Strip that crossed the border into the area of Kibbutz Kissufim in Israel. In the explosion in this tunnel, at least 12 members of Islamic Jihad were trapped and killed. Five bodies extracted from the tunnel are being held by Israel as a bargaining chip for future negotiations.
The IDF presented the discovery of the second tunnel as the fruit of its new technological and operational abilities. However, this tunnel (which was blown up this week) had been known to the security apparatus months ago. It was discretely destroyed without the Israeli threats and rhetoric that accompanied the blowing up of the earlier tunnel. The difference between the two tunnels is that the first constituted a present and immediate danger to Israel, while the second tunnel — which was found in an open agricultural terrain in Israel that is relatively distant from the settled localities — was set aside as a bargaining chip with which to threaten Hamas.
IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis explained in his announcement that “the large tunnel that was uncovered and destroyed was dug by Hamas. It extended from Khan Yunis in the center of the Strip and penetrated into Israeli territory for hundreds of meters. It was uncovered in the middle of an agricultural plot of land, about a kilometer (0.6 mile) from the nearby localities of Nirim and Ein Hashlosha. The IDF tracked the construction of the tunnel over recent months and decided to neutralize it this morning.”
The Islamic Jihad tunnel in the environs of Kissufim was destroyed immediately after it was discovered. It was felt that the residents of the south were directly endangered by the tunnel, in which Islamic Jihad fighters were actively operating and training. The IDF felt that it had to destroy the tunnel immediately, despite the risk that rockets would be fired at Israel afterward in retaliation. By contrast, the demolition of the second tunnel this week was intended to send a warning message to Hamas: We know about your tunnels, so think twice before you decide to heat up the zone in response to US President Donald Trump’s announcement that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
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