Israeli Army Reports Discovery of New Tunnel in Gaza Strip

On Thursday, May 5, the Israeli army announced the discovery of a new secret underground tunnel in the Gaza Strip, constructed by the Islamist group Hamas. According to Israeli military commanders, the mortar fire from Hamas militants towards Israeli forces and the violence on Wednesday may have been an attempt by Hamas to prevent the discovery of this tunnel. Reuters reported that Israeli soldiers responded to Hamas's mortar attacks with tank fire and airstrikes. In 2014, following battles between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip that led to the discovery of several secret underground tunnels between the Gaza and Israel borders, Israeli forces were astonished by the dimensions of these tunnels. Since then, Israel has intensified the use of various technologies to discover these underground tunnels. Reuters reported that no new tunnel had been discovered since the 2014 war until last month when an underground tunnel was found by Israeli soldiers that had been dug from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory. No one was harmed during the discovery of this tunnel, but it poses a new challenge in the two-year peace process between Hamas and Israel. Colonel Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, stated on Thursday that the discovered tunnel is 28 meters deep, and investigations have begun to determine when this tunnel was dug to ascertain whether it was constructed before or after the 2014 war. He held Hamas responsible for the mortar attacks on Wednesday, stating that the attacks began when Israeli soldiers were searching 100 meters from the tunnel on the other side of the Gaza border. Colonel Lerner described the presence of Israeli soldiers on the other side of the border as normal based on an agreement facilitated by Egypt, but deemed the Hamas attacks unprecedented. Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, has not claimed responsibility for the mortar attacks against Israeli soldiers and has not commented on the discovery of the tunnel. According to Reuters, some experts say that Israel's search for Hamas tunnels increases the likelihood of a new war, as Hamas does not use these tunnels and keeps them for a rainy day. During the 2014 war, over 2,100 Palestinians were killed, many of whom were civilians, along with 67 Israeli soldiers and six Israeli civilians who were killed by Hamas's and other Palestinian groups' mortar explosions.