At least 10 Hamas terrorists have been killed in at least four terror-tunnel collapses, the most recent occurring on Tuesday.
Another Hamas terrorist was killed Tuesday when a terror-tunnel collapsed in the southern Gaza Strip, Hamas’ military wing, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement, the Palestinian Ma’n new agency reported.
The military wing identified the terrorist as 27-year-old Marwan Barham Marouf, from Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
During the past two weeks, Hamas has reported at least ten other deaths in three separate tunnel collapses.
The Institute for Palestine Studies reported in 2012 that Hamas authorities had counted 160 deaths inside the tunnels since they took control of the Strip in 2007, and in August 2014, al-Jazeera reported that figure to be as high as 400.
Hamas has built a sophisticated network of tunnels that it has used to penetrate Israel to carry out terrorist attacks on civilians and soldiers. The IDF destroyed most of the tunnels during the summer of 2014, but Hamas has since been working vigorously to rebuild the network, many times at the expense of innocent Gazans, from whom they steal building materials which they use for military build-up.
Speaking on Tuesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said the army is operating to counter the threat of Hamas terror tunnels and that this is its top mission for 2016, while preparing for all developments and eventualities.
By: United with Israel Staff