Israel defense officers said Friday its warplanes successfully struck a tunnel beneath the Gaza Strip that was used by terrorists, while members of the militant group Hamas said the attack left three Palestinians dead.
That’s the most number of militants killed at one time in an attack on the Gaza Strip in the last few months, Reuters said.
Israeli Defense Force officials also reported that engineers blew up a separate tunnel in the Gaza a day earlier, on Thursday. In that incident, five Israeli troops were wounded after Hamas members detonated a bomb, CBS reported. In response, IDF troops fired at a militant; Palestinian authorities reported that militant later died.
Israel claims the construction of the tunnels is a blatant violation of a peace deal forged with Hamas a year ago, CBS reported.
Tunnels are a favored attack ploy of Hamas. A few years ago — before Egypt’s then-president, Mohammed Morsi, helped broker a truce between the militant group and Israel — Hamas used a similar tunnel to kill two IDF soldiers and kidnap another, CBS reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.