Border security

Israeli detectors still not an anti-tunnel trump card

The IDF and the security establishment are pinning their hopes on a technology deployed along parts of the border with the Gaza Strip. While the system led to its first discovery of an attack tunnel dug by Hamas no one is rushing to celebrate a trump card over the subterranean threat which became a terrifying reality during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

Patience is still required.

The development of the secretive system was led by security firms headed by Elbit, the Ministry of Defense Research and Development Agency, and the Geophysical Institute. It uses sensors and sensitive radar systems to provide real time alerts of subterranean spaces or construction say, underground digging beneath the surface.

The attack tunnel uncovered by the new system was being dug from the southern Strip towards Israeli territory in the general direction of Kerem Shalom crossing the border for several dozen meters. The latest discovery was dug at a greater depth close to 30 meters than the tunnels exposed by the IDF during Operation Protective Edge and before.

The tunnel was supported by concrete and included designated spaces for attack zones and splits to other underground ways. Intelligence sources believe Hamas is constantly digging towards Israel another chapter in the lifelong pursuit by the head of the group’s military wing, Mohammed Deif.