Special to WorldTribune.com

RAMALLAH — The Israel Army has discovered scores of tunnels believed constructed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Military sources said elite forces detected the tunnels in raids throughout the Hebron area of the southern West Bank since June 12.

The sources said the tunnels were discovered in the search for three Jewish teenagers abducted near their school in an attack attributed to Hamas.

“We are conducting an enormous intelligence effort in cooperation with
Israel Security Agency agents and guidance from civil authorities,” Israeli
military spokesman Brig. Gen. Mordechai Almoz said. “This effort will
continue in the coming days.”

The sources said more than 30 tunnels were discovered in the Hebron area
by the Army’s Engineering Corps. They said the tunnels stemmed from the
homes of Palestinians linked to Hamas and Jihad.

“We also discovered underground areas in the Hebron region that we had
not known about previously,” an officer in the corps’ elite Yahalom unit
said.

The sources said some of the tunnels were used to conceal weapons and
bombs. Yahalom was reported to have found nearly 20 laboratories to
manufacture improvised explosive devices.

The Israeli military search has raised tension within the Palestinian
areas of the West Bank. On late June 21, Palestinian protesters attacked a
Palestinian Authority police station in Ramallah amid an Israeli military
operation in the city.

So far, the military has not reported any signs of life from the three
teenagers. The sources also did not cite any credible claims from purported
kidnappers.

“We have unequivocal proof that this is Hamas,” Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said on June 22. “We are sharing this proof and information to
this effect with several countries. Soon this information will be made
public.”

  Brig. Gen. Mordechai Almoz, Hebron, Israel discovers 30 tunnels during search for kidnapped teens in West Bank, Yahalom unit