Israel, Hamas signal desire to avoid war
As renewed focus on terror group's tunnel digging causes anxieties to skyrocket, both sides send public and clandestine messages stating desire to prevent conflict sparked by misunderstanding.
Additional defense sources told Ynet that the IDF recently concluded that Hamas could mistakenly think Israel is about to assault the tunnels and thus launch a preemptive attack with rockets, tunnels and military posts along the border, all in the hopes of holding up or preventing an Israeli attack that would affect its ability to dig more tunnels. This concern has become so great on both sides that both sides felt the need to pass both public and clandestine reassurances.
Anxiety over the possibility of an imminent conflict in Gaza spiked in the past several days because of events on both sides. In Israel, media outlets focused intensely on alleged digging noises heard underneath homes by Gaza border residents, which politicians seized upon as proof that Hamas's tunnels have crossed into Israel and must be immediately attacked.
The IDF and defense establishment have investigated each report about noises and found no evidence that Hamas tunnels were reaching Israeli territory. Media outlets nevertheless continued heavy coverage of the issue, raising fears among Hamas and Islamic Jihad that Israel has deliberately been beating the drum for a potential sequel to Operation Protective Edge.
Questions about the tunnel-digging have grown louder in recent weeks in part because of news that Palestinians died during digging, as well as Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh's comments that Hamas was indeed digging tunnels leading to Israel east of Gaza City. Haniyeh's comment, as well as those made by other Hamas leaders, does not line up with the terror group's secrecy regarding the tunnels. But when it became clear to the group that the work could not be hidden, it decided to use it for propaganda purposes.
Simultaneous media coverage in Israel and Gaza created a situation of mutual worries that a misunderstanding could spark a war. Everyone is now trying to come down from the ledge.
This week, the state comptroller released his draft report on the subject of the tunnels, in which he severely criticized Prime Minister
