The IDF said on Sunday that its troops uncovered a 3-meter (10-foot) high tunnel at the Philadelphi Corridor, big enough for cars to travel through. The tunnel was discovered last week and will be destroyed by forces from the Engineering Corps once the military concludes an investigation of the tunnel and shafts leading to it as well as other underground infrastructure.
The military had claimed that at least 20 tunnels, some leading from the Strip into Egypt, were still in the area after initially saying that some 35 tunnels and 200 shafts were uncovered when the forces took control of the area.
2 View gallery
A military jeep drives out of a Hamas tunnel uncovered near the Gaza-Egypt border
(Photo: IDF)
Among Israel's demands in negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage release is the continued Israeli presence along the Philadelphi Corridor where the tunnel was found, despite Egyptian claims that all tunnels leading from Gaza had been uncovered and blocked.
A similar tunnel was uncovered by troops in the northern part of the Gaza Strip late last year. it was in a depth of some 60 meters (nearly 200 feet) underground, included shafts leading to areas near the Israel border and could accommodate thousands of Nukhba fighters.
The tunnel system was secretly dug under the command of Mohammed Sinwar, the brother of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. In the tunnel uncovered in the northern Strip troops found video documentation filmed over years including a clip showing Sinwar and his brother driving their jeep through the tunnel while a team of engineers brought in from Khan Younis briefed them on its components.