Israel Matzav

What a shock: Hamas admits it planned to use tunnel to kidnap Israelis

Hamas has admitted that a tunnel that was discovered near the border with Gaza was intended to be used to kidnap Israelis.

Let's go to the videotape. More after the video.

More than a week after Israeli forces uncovered a massive tunnel dug from the Gaza Strip into Israel, near Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, Hamas announced on Sunday that they had masterminded the digging of the cutting-edge tunnel and that its aim was to gain leverage in order to secure the freedom of Palestinian prisoners.

The spokesman of the Hamas military wing, Abu Ubaida, told the movement's Al-Aqsa radio station that "activists belonging to the Hamas military wing are responsible for digging the tunnel."

Last Sunday, Israeli authorities announced the discovery of the 2.5-kilometer (1.5-mile) tunnel,and accused Hamas of being behind its construction. The IDF said the tunnel, dug in sandy soil, had been reinforced with concrete supports. Israel responded by halting the transfer of building material into Gaza.

For years, Israel had refused to allow these goods into the territory because it said militants would use them to build fortifications and weapons. 

In 2010, as part of efforts to ease its internationally-criticized blockade on Gaza, Israel gave foreign aid organizations the green light to import construction materials for public projects. Last month, Israel resumed the transfer of cement and steel to Gaza's private sector. 

On October 18, the anniversary of the Schalit prisoner exchange, Hamas politburo deputy chief Moussa Abu Marzouk remarked on the Khan Yunis tunnel, tweeting that "we could not have achieved the release of a thousand prisoners without tunnels such as this to help abduct Gilad Schalit." 

"The tunnel discovered by Israel cost us a lot of blood, money and effort," he added. "But all that is dwarfed by the possibility of securing the release of prisoners held in Israeli jails."

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Gaza plenty, kidnapping, Mavi Marmara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:20 PM