Israel's military has concluded that the new Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip was constructing a number of tunnels into the Jewish state.

Israeli military sources said the new Hamas-led army plans to use the tunnels for commando raids of military and civilian targets in Israel, Middle East Newsline reported. The sources said up to 20 tunnels were believed to have been dug from the eastern, northern and southern Gaza Strip into Israel.

The Palestinian tunnel was constructed under a series of greenhouses, the sources said. On Wednesday, the military blew up the tunnel.

"The joint forces uncovered a tunnel intended for infiltration into Israeli territory with the intention of carrying out a large-scale terror attack," a military statement on Thursday said. "The tunnel was dug from inside a greenhouse used for harvesting tomatoes, which is located merely 700 meters from the security fence. The discovery of the tunnel and the prevention of the attack were made possible by the IDF's [Israel military] continued activity in the area."

The sources said Israel Army units were operating along the Gaza border in search of tunnels. They said combat forces entered nearly every night with equipment to detect tunnel construction or raid Palestinian homes that served as the entrance of the tunnels.

Hamas has been working with the Popular Resistance Committees to construct tunnels into Israel, the sources said. In June 2006, Hamas and PRC dug a tunnel into an Israel Army base and captured Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

"Tunnels are increasingly employed as a means to infiltrate Israel in order to execute terrorist attacks against civilians, and for the purpose of smuggling weapons and illegal contraband," the military statement said. "IDF activity -- routinely conducted in search of tunnel networks — is designed to thwart the development of such means of terrorism."