IDF Combat Engineers Destroy 50 Hamas Tunnels Amid Ceasefire Talks

Israeli Defense Forces have eliminated 50 Hamas tunnels on the Gaza-Egypt border as ceasefire negotiations with Arab leaders resume in Qatar. This operation aims to thwart Hamas smuggling and ensure regional security.

Tel Aviv [Israel], August 17 (ANI/TPS): Israeli combat engineers have dismantled approximately 50 Hamas tunnel routes along the Egypt-Gaza border in the last month, the Israel Defense Forces reported on Thursday. This announcement coincides with the resumption of ceasefire negotiations between Israeli and Arab leaders in Qatar.

The tunnels, located in the Philadelphi corridor—a buffer zone along the 14-km Gaza-Egypt border created in 2006 to prevent weapons smuggling after Israel's disengagement from Gaza—were targeted to disrupt Hamas's activities. Hamas had taken control of Gaza violently from the Palestinian Authority in 2007.

On August 4, elite IDF Yahalom unit soldiers destroyed a three-meter-tall smuggling tunnel leading into Egypt, large enough for vehicles. Securing the Philadelphi corridor is vital to prevent Hamas from rearming and to hinder its leaders from escaping into the Sinai with Israeli hostages. Hamas's attacks on October 7 killed at least 1,200 people and resulted in 252 hostages taken. Of the 111 remaining hostages, 39 have been declared dead. Hamas has also held two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014. (ANI/TPS)

(With inputs from agencies.)