Huge tunnel discovered from Gaza into Israel: Army

Israel has discovered a “huge” tunnel extending from Gaza into southern Israel for the first time since 2014, the army said on Monday.

The army released footage on Monday showing heavy machinery boring into the ground during an operation to destroy the tunnel, which was discovered close to a kibbutz in south-west Israel.

The tunnel, which was 30 metres below ground at the border between Gaza and Israeli territory, was discovered 10 days ago, but the information was only cleared for release on Monday.

Palestinian news site Zamn Press carried a report of the discovery on Saturday, saying the tunnel had been used to launch incursions into Israeli territory and transport hostages back to Gaza.

A source told the site that the tunnel had been built over the course of two years, and was equipped with electricity.

The Israeli army has not said when the tunnel could date from.

Hamas-affiliated news site al-Majd quoted a source on Monday as saying that the tunnel was an old one, and had been used during the war of summer 2014.

“Israel is trying to give the impression of success by ‘discovering’ an old tunnel,” the source was quoted as saying.

“The aim is to get the US to continue its [funding of the] anti-tunnel operation after its recent failure.”

Al-Majd later put out a tweet to “warn citizens not to gossip or talk about the tunnel and take a high degree of caution regarding [Gaza’s] security”.

Washington said in February that it would fund half of a $240m high-tech tunnel detection system aimed at boosting security on Israel’s southern border.               

Monday’s announcement of the tunnel discovery prompted criticism by Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who called for greater action against tunnels by the Israeli army.

“Our worst fears have come true,” Bennett said in a statement. “Hamas has not been deterred from re-intensifying its efforts…it’s about time we internalised the idea.”

The Israeli army is now “working on the assumption” that other such tunnels exist, a senior Southern Command officer told Israeli news site Haaretz.

Army commanders said at the start of the year that destroying the tunnels is their top priority, and began a campaign using around 100 pieces of heavy machinery.