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Hamas fighter reveals vital intelligence on tunnel threat

[ssba]

An arrested Hamas operative has revealed vital information about the Hamas tunnel network that aims to reach into Israeli territory.

Ahmed Magdi Muhamad Abid, 23, was interrogated by Israel’s Shin Bet security agency after being arrested whilst attempting to cross the border into Israel in September. Abid revealed that he had worked on the construction of Hamas tunnels and gave extensive information about the tunnel network. He admitted to being recruited by Hamas in 2013 before receiving military training in engineering, sniping and using anti-tank weapons.

In a statement, the Shin Bet confirmed that “valuable information about the Hamas tunnels apparatus was [gained] during [Abid’s] investigation – both about the tunnels that are for offensives against Israel, and about tunnels that are meant to fight the IDF within the borders of the Gaza Strip”.

Abid was indicted for security offences at the Be’er Sheva District Court on 23 October and the story was cleared for publication yesterday.

On 30 October the IDF destroyed a tunnel in Israeli territory which had been dug by Islamic Jihad, in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman called a technological breakthrough in detecting tunnels. Twelve Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives, including senior military commanders, were killed in the subsequent explosions.

In a related development, Israel’s Defence Ministry announced on Wednesday that a new chemical testing laboratory at the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza recently intercepted a truck attempting to smuggle materials to produce a bomb into Israel. Head of the border crossing authority Brig. Gen. (res.) Kamil Abu Rokon said “establishing the chemical laboratory greatly broadens the ‘toolbox’ that is in the hands of security officials in the daily unrelenting campaign against smuggling into Gaza”.