Report: Israel to Build Concrete Wall Along Gaza Border

Israel’s defense establishment plans to build a concrete wall that will go tens of meters underground as well as above ground along the Gaza Strip border with Israel, according to a report in Yediot Aharonot Thursday.

The plan will cost an estimated $568 million, less than previously estimated, according to the Yediot report.

A wall that goes underground is believed to be necessary to combat the proliferation of the terror tunnels running under the border between Gaza and Israel.

On Wednesday, a senior official in the Defense Ministry told reporters at a briefing that a confrontation with Hamas was “inevitable,” but that Israel was prepared for it. The next time Hamas starts a war with Israel will be the last time it does so, a spokesperson for Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said – because there will be no more Hamas when the war is over, he said.

“The next fight against Hamas must be the last one,” the official quoted Liberman as saying. “Israel will no longer tolerate the actions of terror groups, and will clean out Gaza of the terrorist regime there if the opportunity arises again.”

“It is an ongoing and growing threat and we need to be prepared for it,” noted the official.