GAZA CITY: Five Palestinians were killed and several others injured on Monday when Israel blew up a tunnel stretching from the Gaza Strip into its territory, the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave said.
Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra named three of those killed as Ahmed Abu Armanah, Omar Al-Faleet and Misbah Shubir.
Shubir was from Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed, while the others were believed to be from Islamic Jihad, an allied militant group.
Earlier Monday, Israel’s army “neutralized a terror tunnel leading into southern Israel,” military spokesman Jonathan Conricus told journalists.
“The tunnel was detonated from within Israel, close to the security fence. The (army) actions are in light of this grave and unacceptable violation of Israeli sovereignty.”
Conricus said thanks to groundbreaking technology this “active tunnel,” which was still being dug, was discovered and forces blew it up inside Israeli territory. He said military intelligence had been tracking it for some time.
Islamic Jihad said in a statement that the tunnels were “part of the policy of deterrence to defend the Palestinian people.”
It said the Israeli attack “targeting mujahedeen and civilians is a dangerous escalation,” adding that they would study potential responses.
Tunnels dug by Gaza’s rulers Hamas were a key issue in the last war with Israel in 2014, but discoveries of those stretching into the Jewish state have since been rare.
Israel has long claimed Hamas has been investing in new tunnels since the last war to attack Israel rather than helping its own people recover.
The military’s discovery followed word from the UN’s refugee agency that it had found what appeared to be a tunnel burrowed beneath one of the schools it operates in the Gaza Strip. Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said in a statement that the organization “robustly intervened with relevant parties to protest the violation.”
Israel’s military body responsible for governing Palestinian affairs noted UNRWA’s condemnation, adding that “Hamas is lying not only to the world but to the people of Gaza.”
US President Donald Trump’s special Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt took to Twitter to rail against Hamas, which the US like most of the West considers a terrorist organization.
“Hamas uses the world’s generosity to shield terror. Palestinians in Gaza deserve so much better,” Greenblatt wrote.
Greenblatt also said that, in contrast, a rare meeting between top Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the West Bank yielded “meaningful steps” that strengthened economic ties between the two sides.
Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon met Sunday in Ramallah with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to discuss potential financial projects, in a meeting that was also attended by top Israeli and Palestinian security officials. The meeting came just days after Israel approved construction of almost 200 new Jewish homes in an east Jerusalem neighborhood, part of a major settlement boom.
In a statement, the Palestinians said they protested Israel’s recent settlement expansion.
Greenblatt, however, reported “important progress” was made in the meeting and that there were “meaningful steps forward on key economic issues — revenues, customs, and investment — that help support the search for peace.”
