Israeli officials have reported that the Hamas terror group which rules Gaza is digging six miles of tunnels each month toward Israel.
The unnamed Israeli defence and diplomatic officials were quoted by Israel’s Channel 2 news as stating that Israel is aware that Hamas is constantly extending its underground network. They said: “We have no perfect solution” to the threat “and neither does any other country”.
Israel located and destroyed two Hamas cross-border terror tunnels in April and May this year, which were discovered in the southern Gaza Strip and ran into Israeli territory.
During the Operation Protective Edge conflict in Gaza in the summer of 2014, Israel uncovered and destroyed 32 cross-border tunnels, through which Hamas planned to infiltrate Israel to carry out terror attacks. Cross-border tunnels were used in the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006.
Following the 50-day conflict with Hamas in the Strip, Israel invested an estimated NIS 1 billion (approximately $250 million) in developing a detection system to locate the cross-border tunnels.
