Gaza tunnel collapse kills 'Islamic Jihad' militant

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for around a decade, border with Egypt also remains largely closed


Afp July 10, 2016
Since January 26, at least 12 Gazans have been killed in five separate tunnel collapses PHOTO: AFP

GAZA CITY, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: A tunnel collapse in the Gaza Strip on Sunday killed a member of militant group Islamic Jihad's armed wing, it said, in the latest in a series of such incidents.

The collapse occurred in the northern Gaza Strip, the al Quds Brigades said in a statement, without providing further details.

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It identified the person killed as Ibrahim Hassan Al-Masri, 28, of al Quds's northern command.

The northern Gaza Strip, run by Islamist movement Hamas, shares a border with Israel.

Hamas as well as Islamic Jihad and other groups maintain a tunnel network within the Palestinian enclave, both for smuggling and military purposes.

Since January, more than a dozen Gazans have been killed in tunnel collapses.

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Israel accuses militants in Gaza of rebuilding tunnels that could be used to attack it, with three wars having been fought between them since 2008.

Clashes broke out on the Gaza border in May as Israel revealed a new tunnel reaching into its territory from the Palestinian enclave, after another was discovered in mid-April.

The violence in May was the worst flare-up between the army and Hamas since a devastating 2014 war, with Hamas attacking forces operating nearby with mortar rounds and Israel responding with air raids and tank fire, which resulted in the death of a Gaza woman.

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The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for around a decade and its border with Egypt also remains largely closed.

Egypt has also destroyed Palestinian tunnels used to smuggle in commercial goods, cash, people and, allegedly, weapons.

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