As ordinary Gazans still struggle to rebuild following the 2014 summer war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group has dedicated tons of supplies to refortify and rebuild tunnels that are used primarily to carry out terror attacks inside Israel.
On Sunday, a Hamas jihadi showed Iranian state-run television network Al-Alam a new tunnel that he claimed extends underground into Israel. The tunnel, which the militant says is 3.5 kilometers long (2.17 miles), will be used in the “next round” of assaults against Israel, the fighter pledged.
During the 2014 war, Israeli forces destroyed over two dozen Hamas terror tunnels, some of which were used in attempts to carry out attacks against civilians and abduct Israeli soldiers.
“Tunnels created on the border with Israel by the Palestinian resistance have become the nightmare of the Zionists in recent years,” said the Iranian state media report.
Although the report is dated June 29, 2015, it remains unclear whether the tunnel shown is recycled footage from last year, given that there are no verifiable timestamps in the video and that the Iranian regime openly arms and supports Hamas.
Al-Alam is controlled by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting agency, whose leader is appointed directly by the Ayatollah Khamenei, the dictator of Iran. Al-Alam, which broadcasts in Arabic, is available via satellite in most of the Arabic-speaking world.
Earlier this year, reports revealed that Iran had dumped tens of millions of dollars into restoring the Hamas terror tunnel infrastructure. The jihadist group–which the U.S. and many other countries–lists as a terrorist organization–has consistently received advanced weaponry from Iran. Last summer, the militant group utilized Iranian-made warheads to hit long-range targets, such as Tel Aviv, during last year’s war.
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