For the second time in as many days, and for the third time in a week, a Hamas terror tunnel in Gaza collapsed on Wednesday night.
According to a report on Army Radio, Wednesday night’s collapse took place in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza. It is unclear as of yet whether there were any casualties.
The website of the Ma’ariv newspaper said that following the tunnel collapse, Hamas closed off the area and took over local radio stations so as to prevent them from reporting about the incident.
Earlier on Wednesday, Hamas officially confirmed that two of its members were killed in a tunnel collapse on Tuesday night near Khan Younis in Gaza.
The terror group’s Al Aqsa TV channel had already confirmed the death of one terrorist – Haider a-Zahar – last night, along with eight other injured terrorists, but on Wednesday morning Hamas said a local field commander named Fuad Abu-Atewi had also died in the accident.
The collapse came just one week after an even deadlier accident in another terror tunnel, in which seven Hamas terrorists were killed.
Hamas has been working hard to rebuild its network of tunnels – including attack tunnels into Israel and smuggling tunnels to and from Egypt – which were largely destroyed during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge.
Following last week’s tunnel collapse, Hamas deputy leader Ismail Haniyeh finally publicly confirmed what had been well-known for a long time, that the group is rebuilding its tunnel infrastructure.
“There are those who think that the calm is a time of rest,” Haniyeh said. “But this is a continuation of the struggle. Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades are working and preparing for Palestine. Fighters are digging twice as much as the number of tunnels dug in Vietnam.”
“In east Gaza there are heroes digging tunnels under the ground and in the west there are those testing rockets. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades are digging tunnels to defend Gaza and turn it into a launch pad for all of Palestine,” he declared.