The Israeli military has developed cutting-edge countertunnel technology that will enable it to destroy all Hamas terror tunnels by the end of 2018, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday.
Lieberman's remarks followed the detection and destruction over the weekend of a Hamas terror tunnel running under the Egypt, Gaza and Israel borders.
It was the third terror tunnel the IDF has destroyed in recent months. An Islamic Jihad tunnel was blown up on Oct. 30, and a Hamas tunnel was leveled on Dec. 9.
In an interview with Hadashot evening news, Lieberman lauded the technological breakthrough that enables the tunnels to be detected, but declined to elaborate on it.
"By the end of 2018, we will have eliminated all of Hamas' attack tunnels. We may even manage to do so sooner, but the task is to destroy them all by the end of the year," Lieberman said.
He slammed Hamas for compromising the Kerem Shalom crossing, under which the tunnel opening on the Israeli side of the border was found. Kerem Shalom is the only crossing through which goods enter the Gaza Strip. Some 1,500 trucks, delivering an average 15 million tons of goods, travel through it daily, making it a vital pipeline for the coastal enclave.
Hamas' decision placed the residents of Gaza in harm's way, he said.
"This tunnel clearly breached Israel sovereignty. This was a cynical move by [Hamas'] leadership. They risked the main pipeline through which most aid flows to the strip. This only shows you whom we're dealing with. Make no mistake," Lieberman said.
He said he believes that despite the blow to Hamas, the terrorist group will opt to exercise restraint rather than provoke a security escalation.
"I don't think that Hamas is interested in war. I don't think it has a different assessment than we do on how such a conflict would end," he said.
Lieberman stressed that despite the terror tunnel's discovery, Israel must adhere to its current security strategy.
"Our strategy is very clear. We don't change our moves according to sporadic mortar fire, or one pundit's assessment of the situation. We are consistent in our operations. The destruction of terror tunnels, the construction of the [underground tunnel] barrier, and our concern for the residents of the communities next to the border. We're offsetting all of their [Hamas'] strategic capabilities," he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on a state visit to India, also lauded the IDF's operations Sunday.
"We are systematically eliminating Hamas and Islamic Jihad's tunnel infrastructure. They should know better than to mess with us," he said.
The tunnel ran from Rafah, on the Egypt-Gaza border, to 180 meters (590 feet) into Israeli territory, under the Kerem Shalom crossing and the gas and diesel pipeline that supplies the Gaza Strip. The IDF believes the tunnel was designed for offensive strikes and was to have been used to smuggle weapons and terrorists from Egypt into Gaza.
GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir visited the tunnel site Sunday and praised the troops and the collaboration between engineering, intelligence and technological personnel, which resulted in the breakthrough necessary to counter the threat posed by the tunnels.
Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai commented on the tunnel's discovery in an interview with the United States-based Arabic-language satellite TV channel Alhurra, saying the IDF now has an "underground version" of the Iron Dome rocket defense system.
"Israeli genius and the Jewish mind have found a solution to the terror tunnels, and just as we have Iron Dome as part of our defenses, there is a technological iron dome underground. I want to send a message to anyone who is digging these tunnels: As you saw over the past two months, these tunnels can only bring death," he said.
"It is also surprising that these tunnels were dug at a time of [the Hamas-Fatah] reconciliation. The [latest] tunnel was dug from Egypt. What message does this send Egypt?" He was referring to Cairo's brokering the latest rapprochement between the rival Palestinian factions.
Mordechai also warned that Israel has "intelligence about additional tunnels, and soon you will hear about their exposure."
