Posted on 02/03/16
| News Source: VIN
Gaza - Hamas said two of its men were killed after a tunnel they were digging from Gaza into Israel collapsed. Hamas identified the men, aged 35 and 23, as members of its militant wing.
The incident marks the second deadly tunnel accident in a week, after seven Hamas fighters died when heavy rainfall trapped them inside a tunnel.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who last week said the tunnels were meant to attack Israel, on Wednesday softened his rhetoric, telling The Associated Press that the tunnels were “defensive tunnels to prevent any aggression on the Palestinian people.”
Israeli troops entered Gaza during the 2014 war and destroyed dozens of sophisticated tunnels Hamas built to infiltrate Israel and carry out attacks. Hamas has since boasted that it is rebuilding the network, and Israelis living near Gaza have reported hearing tunneling sounds under their homes recently.
An Associated Press video shot Wednesday shows four machines appearing to drill on the Israeli side of the border. The Israeli military declined to comment on the video.
More than 2,200 Palestinians, including 1,462 civilians, were killed in the 2014 Gaza war. In Israel, 66 soldiers and seven civilians were killed.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would retaliate with “greater force” than in 2014 if cross-border tunnels are used to attack Israelis.
A Palestinian boy receives sweet from a Hamas militant as he takes part with others in the funeral of their two comrades, who were killed when a tunnel collapse on Tuesday, in the village of Al-Moghraga near central Gaza Strip, February 3, 2016. Two militants of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group died when a tunnel, they worked inside, collapsed on Tuesday, the groups armed wing said. Leaders of Hamas said building tunnels was in preparation for any possible confrontation with Israel in the future. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem 
Palestinians on a motorcycle as they ride along the Gaza Strip border with Israel, near the community of Nir Am past the drilling operations underway by Israel who is developing 'tunnel busting' technology, 03 February 2016. EPA/JIM HOLLANDER