Israel revealed on Sunday that it has discovered what it called the “largest tunnel” in Gaza so far, claiming it was 400 meters from the “Erez” crossing between Gaza and Israel.
Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hajari explained: “The length of the tunnel is about four kilometers, which is a sufficient distance to connect the border area with northern Gaza City, which was the center of Hamas rule before it has now turned into a devastating combat zone.”
Hajari explained that the tunnel discovered by the occupation in Gaza at the Erez border crossing.
The spokesperson claimed that Hamas invested millions of dollars into building the tunnel, which took several years to build – and is large enough for cars to pass through.
“We are not surprised that this is a Hamas strategy, but what was surprising was its success and the size of the tunnel was truly shocking,” the Associated Press reported him as saying.
“We knew that Hamas had a network of tunnels, but we did not believe that it was capable of launching a large-scale attack.”
He continued: “We did not know about the tunnel before October 7, because the defenses only discovered tunnels designated for entering Israel.”
In response to Israel’s announcement, the Al-Qassam Brigades posted a video clip on Monday with a sarcastic caption: “Too late, mission accomplished,” in reference to how members of the Hamas movement had already achieved their targeted mission before Israel could arrive.
Hamas also showcased footage of the “Al-Aqsa Flood operation” that it conducted on October 7, prompting analysts to theorize that it could be a message to Israel that the discovered tunnel was used in the attack.
