HANIYEH: RESISTANCE MEN WORK OVER AND UNDERGROUND FOR LIBERATION BATTLE
Gaza City , 16 Dhul Hija 1434/21 October 2013 ( MINA ) – The armed wing of Islamic Hamas movement, Al-Qassam announced Sunday it was behind the recently discovered tunnel leading from Gaza into Israel.
“Al-Qassam Brigades dug the tunnel,” said Abu Obaida, a spokesperson for the military wing of Hamas. “The Brigades work in its full capacity over and under the ground and dig in the rocks.”
Speaking to a Hamas radio station in Gaza, he said the tunnel aimed at “freeing (Palestinian) prisoners.” Hamas apparently had plans to kidnap Israeli soldiers and held them for a prisoner exchange.
In 2006, Hamas kidnapped an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, from his base near Gaza and swapped him for more than 1,000 prisoners two years ago.
The Israeli military declared last Sunday that it had uncovered a tunnel beneath the security fence separating Israel and southeast Gaza Strip.
In a speech Saturday, Hamas’ Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh referred to the tunnel, saying “the resistance men work over and under the ground for the liberation battle,” Xinhua quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
Since November, Israel and Hamas observe an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that has ended eight days of cross-border clashes.
Maj. Gen. Sami Turgeman, Israel’s Southern Command chief, said the freeze was ordered because Hamas controls Gaza, had been using construction materials approved by Israel for civilian purposes to build tunnels like the one discovered recently.
Officials said Israel would continue to allow the transfer of construction materials for projects overseen by international organizations.
Military officials said the tunnel, discovered last week, was about a mile long and built at a depth of nearly 60 feet. They added that it had probably been constructed more than a year ago. It was the third such tunnel discovered this year, they said.
The mouth of the tunnel is near Ein Hashlosha, an Israeli communal farm near the border with Gaza. In 2006, Hamas and other groups used a smuggling tunnel for a cross-border raid in which they killed two Israeli soldiers and seized a third, Gilad Shalit, who was whisked into Gaza and held captive for five years before being released in a prisoner exchange.
Hamas has largely observed a cease-fire with Israel, brokered by Egypt, that ended the fighting in November.
But the discovery of the tunnel east of Gaza was portrayed locally by Hamas as evidence that it had not dropped armed resistance and that it continued to prepare for the next round of fighting against Israel.
The economic situation in the besieged Gaza Strip has been deteriorating following the destruction by Egypt of hundreds of tunnels running to the Israeli-blockaded territories.
According to reports, the destruction of underground tunnels that served as a lifeline to Gaza has caused a shortage of essential goods in the coastal enclave and hampered daily life.
Egypt’s military-backed government has demolished nearly 800 tunnels along its border with Gaza since January this year, preventing the people in Gaza from accessing most of their basic goods like food, fuel, and construction materials.
The trend gained momentum after the ouster of Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi on July 3.
Several Palestinians reportedly lost their lives as they were caught up in the tunnels during destruction operations.
Some 1.7 million people in Gaza have been living under Israel’s illegal siege since 2007, a situation that has made them desperately dependent on goods coming through the tunnels.
Several human rights organizations and civil groups have criticized the Egyptian army for preventing the people in Gaza from accessing their basic goods.
The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO), which represents more than 130 Palestinian civil society organizations, has called on the international community to end the “continuous Israeli siege.”
“Gaza is recently suffering from a catastrophic condition due to the continuous Israeli siege for the seventh year. We are calling on the international community in order to act immediately to end the siege,” Amjad Shawa, a PNGO member. (T/P04/E1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
