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Israeli forces arrest Palestinian involved in Hamas' underground Gaza tunnels

Xinhua, June 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israeli security forces have arrested a Hamas operative involved in operating the Islamic movement's underground tunnel network in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said on Sunday.

The suspect, a 17-year-old Palestinian who is a member of the Palestinian Hamas' military wing, was captured in a joint operation by the Israeli army, the Shin Bet security agency and the Israeli police, a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

"During his investigation, details regarding Hamas' terror activities were revealed, including information about the recruitment process, training and details regarding other terror operatives from the group's military wing," the IDF said.

The military said it also learned about the Hamas' methods of constructing tunnels, its ways of communication within the network and digging locations.

This is the second Hamas operative involved in the group's tunnel network to have been arrested by Israel in a month.

On May 5, Israeli security forces said they arrested a Hamas operative who also supplied Israel with information about the tunnels.

Israel believes the underground tunnels are for future attacks against Israeli soldiers and citizens.

During Operation Protective Edge, an Israeli war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014, several tunnels were discovered that reached into Israeli territory, close to local communities.

The operation set out to curb the rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli territories, as well as destroy the underground tunnels. The Israeli army reportedly destroyed around 30 tunnels during the operation. Two new tunnels were discovered in the past several months, according to the Israeli military.

On a related matter, a 17-year-old Palestinian who committed a stabbing attack against Israelis in February 2015 was sentenced to 18 months in prison on charges of attempted murder.

The Palestinian youngster, who lives in Birzeit, a Palestinian village near Ramallah in the West Bank, stabbed an Israeli in Jerusalem and moderately injured him. He also stabbed others.

The attack was carried out eight months before the start of the ongoing wave of violence in last October that claimed the lives of 28 Israelis and 205 Palestinians. Endit