GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza’s militant Islamic Hamas rulers say two of its men have been killed after a tunnel they were digging into Israel collapsed. Hamas identified the men, aged 35 and 23, as members of its militant wing.
Wednesday’s incident marks the second deadly tunnel accident in a week, after seven Hamas fighters died after heavy rainfall trapped them inside a tunnel.
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 they are rebuilding the network and Israelis living near Gaza have reported hearing tunneling sounds under their homes recently.
More than 2,200 Palestinians, including 1,462 civilians, were killed in the Gaza war. In Israel, 66 soldiers and seven civilians were killed.