IDF releases footage of deepest-ever Hamas cross-border attack tunnel
The deep tunnel encroached several dozen meters into Israeli territory and was discovered last month
Plunging several dozen meters underground the Israel-Gaza border, the tunnel also extended dozens of meters into Israeli territory. The IDF constructed an elevator to allow troops to descend into the tunnel.
According to The Jerusalem Post, the military was not certain what the purpose of the tunnel was, but one working theory is that it was designed to test the underground censory barrier or be used for a cross-border raid. Furthermore, the IDF did not speculate on whether this may have been a likely reconnaissance or scouting mission rather than an attempt to abduct either soldiers or civilians.
It was apparently dug recently and was not one of the at least 20 Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist tunnels that the IDF destroyed at the culmination of 2014 Operative Protective Edge.
The tunnel began in the Gazan city of Khan Younis was discovered after the underground detection system was activated in conjunction with female soldiers in the Gaza Division, whose role it is to identify the sounds of digging.
It was buttressed with concrete slabs and because of the depth was supplied with an uprated oxygen and ventilation system.
Israel began its construction of the 60-km-long underground barrier in 2017 and is expected to be completed in March 2021.
Infiltration attempts are common as many ordinary Gazans preferring arrest at Israel's hands rather than remaining in the Strip, which for numerous reasons including Hamas governance, Israel and Egypt's blockade and the coronavirus pandemic is teetering on the verge of a humanitarian crisis.