KHAN YUNIS, Palestinian Territories — In a
“tunnel city” under the sandy soils of southern
Gaza, Palestinian fighters are
preparing for the next conflict with Israel, as tensions in Jerusalem threaten
to escalate.
اضافة اعلان
The underground passageways leave no trace on the
surface.
But in a wooded
area near
Khan Yunis, seven masked men in military fatigues carried a
collection of machine-guns and grenade launchers into a tunnel entrance
discretely tucked into the foot of a small hill.
The fighters wear headbands of the Al-Quds Brigade,
the armed branch of Islamic Jihad which is the second-largest armed faction in
Gaza, after Hamas.
The tree branches covering the hole reveal a narrow
passageway walled and topped with concrete blocks.
Complete with electric lights, a ventilation system,
and telecoms cables, the tunnels also have small rooms for storing weapons and
ammunition.
An
Islamic Jihad official told AFP during a media
tour that the movement has both defensive and offensive tunnel systems.
The latter “is used for taking Israeli soldiers
captive, repelling Israeli ground offensives and carrying out various field
operations”, said the commander.
As he was talking, he received a radio alert of a
“security incident” east of Gaza City — a false alarm.
Last May, during Israel’s 11-day war on the Gaza
Strip, Israeli occupation forces launched multiple strikes against what it
called the “Gaza Metro”, a network of tunnels that had allowed fighters to move
around without being spotted by Israeli drones and to take Israeli targets by
surprise.
KFC and rockets
Residents of Gaza, a
cramped, besieged coastal territory home to 2.3 million people, have long
experience of using tunnels since 2007, when Israel imposed a crippling
blockade in response to Hamas seizing power in the strip.
Smugglers established a network of tunnels on the
border with
Egypt, enabling them to import everything from desperately needed
household goods to cars and even Kentucky Fried Chicken — as well as weapons.
In recent years, Egypt has destroyed most of those
tunnels.
Israel, for its part, has boosted its forces around
the territory, reinforcing a hyper-secure barrier with an underground steel
wall it hopes will prevent tunnels reaching into Israeli territory.
Israeli commanders fear fighters could use such
tunnels to seize Israeli personnel or civilians for use as bargaining chips in
prisoner exchanges.
But even if Islamic Jihad’s tunnels cannot reach
Egypt or Israel, they are still “a strategic weapon for the resistance”, said
Al-Quds Brigade spokesman Abu Hamza.
“We will let the days and the battles to come do the
talking about the ability of the resistance to break through this so-called
(Israeli) barrier,” he told AFP.
Weeks of deadly violence including angry
demonstrations and a police crackdown around Jerusalem’s
Al-Aqsa Mosque have
prompted Islamic Jihad to threaten an escalation.
After two deadly attacks in the coastal Israeli city
of Tel Aviv, Israeli occupation forces carried out large-scale raids in the
West Bank, notably the Jenin area from which the attackers hailed.
Those operations sparked intense firefights which
killed several fighters from Islamic Jihad, which is supported by Iran.
And on Monday evening, a rocket was fired from Gaza
into Israel, prompting an Israeli air strike against a weapons factory.
No faction has yet claimed responsibility, but the
incident — the first of its type since January — heightened fears of a further
escalation.
A couple of hours’ drive from Gaza City, “the
tunnels have been repaired and the rocket stocks have been replenished” since
last year’s war, according to Abu Hamza, who praised Iran for its support.
The spokesman would not be drawn on the size of the
organization’s tunnel network or how many fighters it has.
But another
Al-Quds Brigade source, who asked not to
be named, said it had “a large number of offensive tunnels that stretch deep
into (Israel) and are linked up to a system of drones”.
He said the group also had rockets capable of
reaching the whole of Israel.
A short distance from one of the tunnel entrances, a
group of fighters sit chatting under the trees.
“We’ve received instructions to mobilize and be on
high alert to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque and
Jerusalem,” said one.
“The rockets are on high alert and we’re waiting for the
leadership to decide.”
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