IDF destroys longest tunnel in northern Gaza Strip
(Video: IDF Spokesman's Unit)
The IDF published on Sunday documentation of the destruction of the longest underground tunnel located in northern Gaza. The tunnel is more than two and a half kilometers long, and it crossed battalions and brigades and connected northern and southern Gaza.
The engineering forces of Division 162 this week paved the way for the infantry and armored troops and exposed the area for the destruction operation. The forces worked in cooperation with the Yahalom unit and destroyed the underground tunnel.
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Lieutenant Colonel Ran, the engineering officer of Division 162, said: "We are at the end of destroying part of a network of tunnels, about 12 kilometers, and from there we will continue to uncover and destroy more tunnels."
At the same time, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Asharq Al-Awast reported Sunday morning from Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip that Marwan Issa, the deputy of Muhammad Deif, was indeed in the area that was attacked in Nuseirat in central Gaza a week ago. According to the report, he was seriously injured, but his fate is currently unclear.
The Guardian newspaper in Britain reports that "the encrypted communication systems of senior Hamas officials went silent for 72 hours after the attack, as happened on previous occasions when senior Hamas officials were eliminated."
Experts told the newspaper that the targeted attack against Issa may indicate that Israel is receiving information from a senior member of the Hamas leadership. "In order to attack, Israel needed information on where and when he was hiding, and for the cabinet to have enough time to authorize the IDF to carry out the attack. Israel also needed confirmation that no hostages were near him as a human shield. All of this indicates that there is human intelligence here that is transmitting the information," a former Israeli intelligence officer explained to the newspaper.