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Hamas operative killed in fresh Gaza tunnel collapse

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In the fifth such incident during the last two weeks, a Hamas operative was killed yesterday when a tunnel he was working to rebuild collapsed in the Gaza Strip.

The latest tunnel collapse happened near Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, killing a 24-year-old from nearby Khirbet al-Adis, who was a member of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing. The operative was apparently working to repair a tunnel damaged by Egyptian authorities, who have destroyed numerous tunnels underneath their own border, which they say have been used to smuggle arms and fighters on behalf of ISIS-affiliated terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula.

In total, 11 Hamas fighters have been killed during the last two weeks in tunnel collapses. Most have died while rebuilding tunnels to facilitate an attack on Israel.  The tunnel collapses have strengthened Israeli fears that Hamas is successfully rebuilding the sophisticated network of tunnels which was a major feature of Operation Protective Edge in summer 2014. They were a launching pad for deadly attacks on Israelis, threatening soldiers and Gaza border communities. Last week, Hamas’s leader in Gaza Ismael Haniyeh confirmed that Hamas is reconstructing the tunnel network saying, “There are heroes east of Gaza City, digging the rocks and building tunnels.”

Meanwhile, the IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot yesterday indicated that Israel is busy developing solutions to locate and destroy the Gaza tunnel construction, which have not yet been made available for public consumption. Speaking at the Interdisciplinary Centre in Herzliya, Eizenkot said “We are doing a lot, but many of [the things we do] are hidden from the public. We have dozens, if not a hundred, engineering vehicles on the Gaza border.” It was reported last week that the United States has agreed to invest around £82 million in an Israeli tunnel detection system, which will effectively locate Hamas underground digging and enable the tunnels to be destroyed.