Palestinian militants are constructing an "underground city" in the Gaza Strip to store weapons and attack Israeli forces in the future, army chief of staff Dan Halutz has been quoted as saying. "The Palestinians are continuing digging an underground city in the Gaza Strip," said Halutz, who appeared before the parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee on Tuesday.
"They are constructing tunnels in the urban parts in order to confront our forces," a member of the committee quoted Halutz as saying.
The Israeli army has in recent weeks intensified its ground operation in the battered Palestinian territory, launched following the abduction of a serviceman by militants in a cross-border raid near Gaza on June 25.
The raid sparked a massive Israeli offensive which has left more than 250 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers dead in Gaza in four months.
Halutz was quoted as telling committee members that the army had discovered and destroyed 15 tunnels in the Gaza Strip during an operation along Gaza's border with Egypt, through which Israel claims large quantities of weapons are being smuggled.
