IDF Raids Weapons Cache in Shomron, Blows Up Hamas Tunnel

A hundred thousand shekels in cash earmarked for the Hamas terror organization were seized, along with a stash of weapons, in a raid carried out by the Home Front’s Tavor Battalion in the village of Talfit in Shomron, near Eli.

Among the captured items was a rifle of the Carl Gustav M/45 variety, hidden inside a clothes cabinet. A matching magazine was also recovered, as well as a scabbard, a folding knife, a saw and two slingshots.

Two suspects were arrested as well, and several additional persons were interrogated.

The purpose of the activity, a security source explained, is “locating suspects who threaten the community, and weapons.”

Lt. Col. Hai Rakah, Commander of the Tavor Battalion, said “this is only one of many activities we undertake in the Eli region, in the face of hostile terrorist activity, and we will continue the mission of protecting the villages in our sector.”

In another counter-terror operation, the IDF completed the destruction of a terror tunnel from Gaza that penetrated deep into Israeli territory, in the vicinity of Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The tunnel had taken an estimated five years to construct.

Most of the tunnel was already destroyed within Gaza during Operation Protective Edge, and the remaining parts, on the Israeli side of the border, had been under IDF control and constant monitoring since then. Completion of its destruction was put off until this week to enable the IDF to learn more about how Hamas used it, while taking care that it would in the meantime pose no danger to the civilian population near the Gaza border.

During the neutralization of the underground network, several weapons were recovered, including heavy machine guns, RPG launchers, missile parts and mines.

This article appeared in print on page 32 of the February 11th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.