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Israel announces arrest of Hamas operative as fire exchange continues near Gaza

Xinhua, May 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

A Hamas operative who is involved in the organization's underground tunnel network was arrested by Israeli security forces, the Israeli military and Shin Bet security agency revealed on Thursday.

In separate statements, the Israeli military and Shin Bet announced on Thursday afternoon that the suspect from the Gaza Strip enclave was arrested last month, after crossing the border fence into Israel, as tensions in the Israeli-Gaza Strip border fence area are flaring.

According to the Shin Bet's statement, the operative, who was carrying two knives when he was arrested, supplied Israeli security forces with information on Hamas' underground tunnels in the strip, as well as on the methods used to dig them.

Israel's security forces believe he was about to attack Israeli soldiers or civilians and an indictment against him was filed at the Be'er Sheva District Court, the Ha'aretz daily reported.

Earlier on Thursday, Israel's military announced it had uncovered an underground tunnel extending from the Gaza Strip enclave into Israeli territory.

The tunnel's exit is located on the southern Gaza border near the town of Rafah, where fire exchange had taken place between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians over the past two days.

The army considers the 28-meter-deep tunnel as an "offensive" tunnel aimed at attacking Israelis in the future, and is set to destroy it in the upcoming days. Soldiers also closed the area near the tunnel's exit for the passage of civilians.

It was the second cross-border tunnel found since the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. On April 18, Israel said it has uncovered and destroyed a tunnel built by Hamas, the Islamist organization that controls Gaza.

With that, fire exchange continued in the border fence area for the second day in a row on Thursday.

At least 10 mortars rounds were fired from the strip into Israel these past two days, four of them on Thursday, Israeli military said. No injuries were reported. Israeli media outlets reported the fire was aimed at soldiers and heavy machinery around the site of the recently discovered tunnel.

Israel's military responded in the past two days with tank fire, without any injuries. Israel also operated its war jets to strike several targets across the Strip early Thursday. The Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported that four Palestinians, including three children, were injured.

Israel and Hamas said on Thursday that Egypt was mediating a restoration of the 2014 truce amid the flare up of the past two days.

Israel and Hamas fought several rounds of fighting in the enclave, which is ruled by Hamas since 2007, the latest being the 51-day war fought in the summer of 2014, claiming the lives of at least 2,250 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 72 Israelis, mainly soldiers, and destroying thousands of buildings. It ended in a cease-fire, mediated by Egypt, on Aug. 26. Endit