"These are the tunnels that could bring anything from trucks to heavy
weapons," a Palestinian source said.
Over the last year, Palestinians linked to the Hamas regime built an
estimated 50 tunnels designed to accommodate vehicles and heavy weapons. The
sources said many of the tunnels were lined with material meant to allow
vehicles to be quickly moved from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip
without sustaining damage.
The new tunnels were said to cost at least $500,000, about 20 times that
of the older and less advanced facilities. The sources said Egypt has
intensified anti-tunnel operations in 2010, particularly by constructing
most of an 11-kilometer underground steel barrier along the Sinai-Gaza
border.
On April 18, the sources reported an Egyptian raid of buildings in the
divided city of Rafah in which large quantities of suspected smuggled goods
were seized. They said security forces found 10 tunnel entrances, some of
them wide enough to accommodate vehicles.
At the same time, the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip has already
threatened to capture additional Israelis. The Islamic movement was said to have been targeting
Israeli tourists in southern Sinai.
"Useless, absurd peace talks failed to free the prisoners, but our
fighters will release them by all means, including armed resistance," Hamas
military spokesman Abu Obeida said.
