Report: Gazans Convinced Israel Behind Tunnel Collapse

Another terror tunnel collapsed over the weekend, sources in Gaza said. A report in Yisrael Hayom said that as a result of the numerous terror tunnel collapses in recent months – and the discovery and destruction of the tunnels found by Israel – terrorists are refusing orders to enter the tunnels.

According to the Gaza news reports, one Hamas terrorist was killed in the latest tunnel collapse. Five others are missing, as are dozens of others who have not been accounted for in other tunnel collapses.

Gaza media has quoted several top Hamas terrorists as saying that Israel is behind the collapses. In several speeches, top Hamas terrorist Ismail Haniyeh has said that Israel is seeking to destroy Hamas’s tunnels. Despite that, he has said that Hamas’s morale is high, and that tunnel construction continues.

The Yisrael Hayom report disputes that claim. Citing sources in Gaza, it says that Hamas is having a harder time than ever recruiting terrorists to enter the tunnels. According to one terrorist quoted in the report, “I know of several people who were sentenced to heavy punishments because they refused to take part in the efforts. This is considered a major crime.” Another terrorist said that to “be buried alive is a terrible way to die. We all have heard stories of activists who preferred to be punished rather than take a chance in the tunnels. The Zionists are finding the tunnels and destroying them with people inside. This is not martyrdom, it is risking death.”