Hamas terror tunnels
Photo: Reuters
New red alert for tunnel digging into Israel
Israel's southern citizens will now be informed via SMS of Hamas tuunel-digging activity and will be asked to go home and turn off the lights; Military official: "They need to understand that not every alarm means terrorists have entered Israel.'
Israel is taking an additional precautionary step against Hamas tunnels which is intended to draw the attention of southern residents surrounding the Gaza region to incidents of Hamas tunnel digging.
The official added, “The alarm is another way of alerting the attention of the residents about when something is happening. Obviously the alarm will be sounded as usual when there is rocket fire.” He also pointed out that it was “important that the civilians understand that not every alarm means terrorists have penetrated into Israel.”
From now on, a red alert will be sounded not only when rockets are launched but also when information is received about the digging into Israeli territory from tunnels.
The alarm will sound identical to that when rockets are falling into Israeli territory. However, in order to distinguish between rocket warnings and tunnel digging, the southern residents will receive, in addition to the alarm, an SMS message instructing, “Due to terrorist digging, residents are requested to go into their homes and switch off the lights until further notice.”
Photo: IDF spokesperson's unit
Additionally, security coordinators will sound warning messages on the public address system about the tunnel penetration. The new warning system has been adopted as a result of lessons learned during Operation Protective Edge in 2014
Hamas tunnels
Speaking about the new initiative, a military official said on Tuesday, “Our central mission today is to defend the communities, in addition to offensive engagements against terror. The Israeli communities in the Gaza area are of primary importance their strength means success.”
