Israel Ramps Up Fight Against Tunnelers With ‘The Obstacle’ Security officials race to develop an underground defense system, fearing Hamas may be rebuilding its subterranean network By Rory Jones and Orr Hirschauge
http://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-ramps-up-fight-against-tunnelers-with-the-obstacle-1456879133
TEL AVIV—One morning early last month, Ahmed al Zahar picked up a scarf, left his mobile phone in the kitchen and headed out to help build a tunnel underneath the Gaza Strip near the border with Israel.Hours later, he was dead, after an underground passageway he was working on collapsed.A member of the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the secretive militant arm of the Islamist movement Hamas, Mr. Zahar is one of at least 10 operatives who have died since the middle of January trying to create an underground network that could move weapons and supplies in any conflict with Israel, a more technologically advanced foe.
His parents have been told little about where and why their 23-year-old son died on Feb. 2, but they knew he worked for Al-Qassam. And despite his death, they support the digging.
“They are not safe,” Ahmed’s father Haidar al Zahar, 62, said of the tunnels from his home in Gaza City. “[But] tunnels guarantee safety and security for the Gaza Strip.”
Israeli officials and analysts say the digging could push the two sides toward conflict again, although Hamas officials have recently tried to play down the threat the tunnels represent. CONTINUE AT SITE.
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