Correction Appended: Oct. 14, 2013
The Israeli army said Sunday that it discovered a one-and-a-half-mile-long tunnel running from the Gaza Strip into Israel, which could have been used to carry out attacks on the Israeli side of the border.
Brig. Gen. Michael Edelstien, commander of the IDF Gaza Division, said that the tunnel is about 50 feet deep and is “extremely advanced and well prepared,” the Associated Press reports. Israeli engineers estimate that the tunnel contains about 500 tons of cement.
Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, accused Israel of exaggerating the details of the tunnel to justify the blockade of the strip. But a spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, referred to it as a “resistance tunnel” on Twitter, and said “the minds which manage to dig the tunnel can dig dozens more.”
[AP]
A previous version of this story misidentified Israeli Army spokesman. The officer quoted is Brig. Gen. Michael Edelstien, commander of the IDF Gaza Division.