Israel to build underground barrier around Gaza Strip

JERUSALEM

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon on Wednesday night announced that Israel would soon begin building a subterranean barrier around the blockaded Gaza Strip.

“The Israeli army will begin building an underground barrier, in addition to a security fence, around the Gaza Strip,” Yaalon was quoted as saying by Israeli public radio.

According to the defense minister, the subterranean barrier will surround the Palestinian enclave to prevent what he described as “terrorists” from infiltrating Israel via underground tunnels.

Last month, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced that it had completed construction of a "smart" security fence around 12 Israeli communities located near the border with the Gaza Strip.

During last year's devastating Israeli onslaught against the territory, the Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas (which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007), used underground tunnels to attack Israeli military bases and communities near the border.

According to the Israeli army, the Qassam Brigades used tunnels on four separate occasions during the conflict (which lasted for 51 days during July and August of last year) to infiltrate Israeli territory, where its fighters succeeded in killing 12 Israeli soldiers.