BICOM

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) announced yesterday that they discovered a new underground tunnel dug from Gaza into Israel.

The tunnel began in the southern part of the Gaza Strip and extended into Israel. The tunnel was exposed because Israel is building an underground security barrier along the Gaza border to prevent future attempts by Hamas to build tunnels into Israel. The new underground barrier is expected to be 70km long and to be fully built by 2020. Thirty kilometres of the barrier has already been built.

An Israeli army spokesman said yesterday that it is still not clear whether it’s a new tunnel or an old one, how long it is, or how far it penetrates into Israeli territory. This is the 18th tunnel dug from Gaza into Israel discovered by Israeli forces since the end of Operation Protective Edge in the Summer of 2014. The IDF has so far destroyed 16 tunnels, including one that extended into Israel and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

On Monday morning a drone entered Israeli airspace from the Gaza Strip and was shot down by the Israeli military. The IDF is examining the small aircraft and has launched an investigation to determine who launched it and for what purpose. The Israeli army detection system identified the drone flying toward the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip. According to the IDF, the drone was being tracked whilst still in the Gaza Strip and was only shot down after it crossed the border.