The IDF revealed that last Sunday’s attack against a Hamas naval facility destroyed an undersea tunnel that extended from the shore into the Mediterranean Sea. The tunnel was intended as a platform from which Hamas’ elite naval commandoes could penetrate into Israel.
During IDF strikes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, June 3rd, 2018, the IDF attacked a military post belonging to Hamas’ special naval forces in the northern Gaza Strip. During this strike, an offensive terror tunnel, which leads to the sea, was demolished pic.twitter.com/WKaE6btUXa
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) June 10, 2018
The Israeli airstrikes on June 3 were launched in response to rocket attacks and targeted five targets in a Hamas naval military compound in the northern Gaza Strip. On Sunday afternoon, the IDF announced that the specific target of the airstrike was the undersea tunnel attached to the base.
This was a unique terror tunnel in that it allowed Hamas terrorists with underwater access to stage attacks against the State of Israel pic.twitter.com/96qdKff8at
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) June 10, 2018
The Hamas base was located approximately 2 miles from the Israeli border. The tunnel did not cross the border into Israeli territory but extended dozens of meters underwater into the sea. It is believed the tunnel allowed the frogmen equipped with scuba gear to enter the sea without being detected.
“We know that it was an operational tunnel that has been used, or at least trained in, before,” IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told the media. Conricus said that more undersea tunnels might exist.
“We continue to monitor [the area] using all of the operational, technological and intelligence capabilities at our disposal,” he said.
On July 8, 2014, four Hamas naval commandos armed with automatic weapons and explosives infiltrated into Israeli territory outside Kibbutz Zikim on the southern coast. The terrorists were killed by the IDF but the attack came dangerously close to succeeding.
