Israeli army destroys tunnel between Gaza and Egypt

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) announced Saturday it found and destroyed a tunnel it claims is used for arms smuggling between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.

But sources said that nothing was found in the tunnel which opened into a chicken coop on the Gaza side.

Palestinian security official confirmed that the tunnel, more than 150 meters (yards) long and links Egypt to Gaza, had been destroyed by the Israeli army, using controlled explosions.

• Israel destroys more Palestinian houses

Israel continued yesterday its raids in Gaza Strip destroying more Palestinian houses.

Israeli raids destroyed two houses, one in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip, and the other in eastern Gaza City.

Another Israeli airstrike targeted a house owned by Naim Abu Al-Foul, a member of the Palestinian Resistance Committees, completely destroying it.

A child was injured in the attack that almost flattened the three-story building, located in the Jabaliya refugee camp, witnesses said.

“We attacked a site used by the Palestinian Resistance Committees to manufacture and store weapons material,” an Israeli Army spokesman said.
The spokesman claimed that “prior to the attack, residents of the area were told to leave for their personal safety.”

Israel claims that the military operation it started in Gaza in June is aimed at freeing captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and stopping Palestinian rocket attacks, but experts have described the assault as “collective punishment” and said it's an Israeli plot aimed at toppling the Hamas-led Palestinian government and undermining the Palestinian authority.

Yesterday, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas expressed hope that a deal over the captured Israeli soldier could be reached soon.

“We have said more than once that the issue of the soldier should be resolved politically, diplomatically and through negotiations on a humanitarian and political basis that takes into consideration the suffering of 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in the occupation jails,” Haniyeh said.