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Thanks to “quiet for quiet” Hamas turns into a exporting weapons maker
Egypt discovers enormous tunnels coming from Gaza
Tunnels big enough to fit a truck have been discovered by the Egyptian
military on the Sinai-Gaza border. These tunnels are allegedly the source of
weapons being used by ISIS and Islamic Jihad in the peninsula, and point to
a thriving weapons industry in the Strip.
Alex Fishman
Published: 03.11.16, 09:41 / Israel News
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4777038,00.html
Hamas has been digging tunnels on the border of Egypt that are big enough to
permit vehicles the size of trucks to go through, according to Egyptian
security officials.
The tunnels connect the Gaza Strip with the Sinai Peninsula, and are being
built in order to compensate for the tunnels which were flooded or blocked
by the Egyptians.
These enormous tunnels, some of which stretch for over three kilometers, are
designed to traverse the security zone Egypt set up between the border with
Gaza and the Sinai. This security zone – which ranges between half a
kilometer and a kilometer in length on the Egyptian side – has been cleared
out of any buildings or people. The area has also been flooded in order to
block the existing shafts into the tunnels.
These tunnels are meant to transfer fighters and weapons, as well as
building materials and other imports in an effort by Hamas to break the
economic siege imposed on the Strip, Egyptian officials said.
Israeli security officials don’t know of any tunnels that large crossing
into Israel. However, if they do exist, Israel will have to take into
account the possibility of the existence of tunnels that are over three
kilometers in length, which will make them harder to find.
Israel estimates that the recent increase in the number of tunnel collapses
in Gaza in the past several months is due to the increased difficulty in
obtaining materials to structurally support the tunnels – principally wood
and cement. To replace these materials, Hamas is using fiberglass, which is
also illegal to import into the Strip. Hamas still tries to smuggle it in,
even though the material can’t support the same amount of weight as cement,
and collapses.
The Egyptian government also notes another worrying phenomenon regarding the
relations between Hamas and the terrorist organizations in the Sinai: it
turns out that Hamas has become a weapons exporter to Egypt. In the past
several months, several types of weapons were found by Egyptian security
forces which bear the markings of being manufactured by the Hamas military
wing.
Amongst the weapons found were solar water heaters filled with explosive
materials, which are one of the deadliest weapons ISIS in Sinai uses against
the Egyptian military. The solar water heaters are used as IEDs with the
ability to take out a tank. A few years ago, Hamas used one of these IEDs
and disabled an Israeli tank.
The Egyptian government also claims that ISIS shoots Hamas-made rockets at
Egyptian military bases in the peninsula.
Hamas also ships weapons from the Gaza Strip to elements affiliated with
global Islamic Jihad which is active in Sinai. These are weapons which were
smuggled into Gaza either by the Iranians or from Libya, which then ended up
in the hands of the jihadists.
At present, there is a new reason to worry – the export of weapons made in
the Strip in industrial quantaties is a new phenomenon which indicates a new
level of institutionalization of the weapons manufacturing process in the
Gaza Strip
Source: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=70191
