BICOM

A member of the Islamic Jihad terror group was killed yesterday when a tunnel he was constructing in the Gaza Strip collapsed.

Two other Islamic Jihad operatives are reported to have also been injured in the incident that took place near Khan Younis. Islamic Jihad named the man as 28-year-old Ibrahim Hussein al-Masri, a member of the al-Quds Brigades, the group’s armed wing. Another al-Quds member was killed earlier this month in a similar tunnel collapse.

It was the second such incident this month and the fourteenth tunnel collapse this year, as Hamas and other terror groups look to rebuild the network of tunnels used to attack Israeli targets during Operation Protective Edge two years ago. Earlier this year, Israeli forces uncovered two major tunnels which had reached Israeli territory, burrowing underneath the Gaza border.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank area of Gush Etzion, two Israeli soldiers were stabbed and lightly wounded yesterday by a Palestinian man. The soldiers, who are members of the Kfir infantry brigade, were on a patrol in the al-Arroub area, when a Palestinian stabbed them with a screwdriver. Another soldier shot and seriously wounded the assailant, who was found to also be in possession of a knife. The Gush Etzion area south of Hebron has been a focal point for violence during a wave of Palestinian attacks since October, which have killed 40 people.

Also yesterday, two Israeli soldiers, who were killed in a grenade explosion in the Golan Heights on Sunday, were buried. Hussam Tapesh was laid to rest in the Druze town of Beit Jann, while Shlomo Rindenow was buried in Netzer Hazani in central Israel. The circumstances of the explosion which killed the two soldiers and wounded three others remain unclear. They were participating in a routine patrol near the Syrian border, when a hand grenade exploded. An army inquiry is underway to investigate the incident.