Hamas:Tunnels 40% Of Budget. Workers Executed To Keep Secret

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The tunnelers, many of whom constructed the tunnels over the course of months, would dig for 8-12 hours a day, and received a monthly wage of $150-$300, according to the blog.

Sources in Gaza told the website that Hamas took a series of precautions to prevent information from reaching Israel. The terror organization would reportedly blindfold the excavators en route to the sites and back, to prevent them from recognizing the locations. The tunnels were strictly supervised by Hamas members, and civilians were kept far from the sites.

M., a former tunnel digger and Israeli collaborator, told the website that Hamas would strip search the workers to ensure they had no recording devices or cameras hidden on them.

“The people we met had their faces covered; no one knew them by their real names, it was all codes and first names. They didn’t want to take the risk that some of the diggers were collaborating with Israel,” he said.

After the tunnels were completed, dozens were reportedly executed to prevent intelligence leaks to Israel.

“Anyone they suspected might transfer information to Israel on the tunnels was killed by the military wing,” a different source said. “They were very cruel.”

In 2012, a Journal of Palestine Studies article claimed 160 Palestinian children were killed while working on Hamas’s tunnel system.

The digging of tunnels began four years ago and has demanded 40 percent of Hamas’s budget, The Times of Israel has learned.

Tunnel diggers have been using electric or pneumatic jackhammers, advancing 4-5 meters a day. The tunnels found were reportedly mostly dug 18-25 meters (60-82 feet) underground, though one was discovered at a depth of 35 meters (115 feet). “That’s like a 10-story building underground,” one expert said.

Digging requires engineering and geological expertise, with tunnels usually dug through sandy soil, their roof supported by a more durable level of clay. As they are dug, the tunnels are reinforced by concrete panels, manufactured locally in workshops adjacent to each tunnel. These workshops have also been targeted by the IDF throughout its military operation.

Hamas said to have executed dozens of tunnel diggers

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Could have built a water desalinization plant or two.

[_Gunnar]

Could have built a water desalinization plant or two.

Wouldn't be wonderful if the leadership on both sides could be persuaded to collaborate with each other in building such valuable infrastructure improvements, developing renewable energy projects, etc. for the benefit of all the people in the area? How can leaders on both sides be intelligent and resourceful enough to aspire to and attain political power yet be too stupid to realize that their hard line mutual antagonism and religious and cultural bigotry towards each other hurts both sides alike?

I fervently wish it were possible for both sides to agree on a secular, one state solution that guarantees religious and political freedom and adequate economic opportunities to all within its borders. I don't see that happening in the foreseeable future, and that is a crying shame, because I doubt that anything short of that will ever end the conflict and tragedy in that area.

I have no love or respect for Hamas and what they are contributing to the misery of their own people, but at the same time I think it is probably true that at least some Israeli leaders see continuing the conflict and emphasizing and (perhaps) even exaggerating the hostility and danger of Palestinians as a sure way to guarantee continuation of the massive stream of economic and military aid and weaponry that pours into Israel from the U.S.A.

[_subgenius]

Could have built a water desalinization plant or two.

Wouldn't be wonderful if the leadership on both sides could be persuaded to collaborate with each other in building such valuable infrastructure improvements, developing renewable energy projects, etc. for the benefit of all the people in the area? How can leaders on both sides be intelligent and resourceful enough to aspire to and attain political power yet be too stupid to realize that their hard line mutual antagonism and religious and cultural bigotry towards each other hurts both sides alike?

hippie talk

I fervently wish it were possible for both sides to agree on a secular, one state solution that guarantees religious and political freedom and adequate economic opportunities to all within its borders. I don't see that happening in the foreseeable future, and that is a crying shame, because I doubt that anything short of that will ever end the conflict and tragedy in that area.

newsflash - secularism is not tantamount to peace

I have no love or respect for Hamas and what they are contributing to the misery of their own people, but at the same time I think it is probably true that at least some Israeli leaders see continuing the conflict and emphasizing and (perhaps) even exaggerating the hostility and danger of Palestinians as a sure way to guarantee continuation of the massive stream of economic and military aid and weaponry that pours into Israel from the U.S.A.

break out the tin foil hats

[_Gunnar]

Could have built a water desalinization plant or two.

Wouldn't be wonderful if the leadership on both sides could be persuaded to collaborate with each other in building such valuable infrastructure improvements, developing renewable energy projects, etc. for the benefit of all the people in the area? How can leaders on both sides be intelligent and resourceful enough to aspire to and attain political power yet be too stupid to realize that their hard line mutual antagonism and religious and cultural bigotry towards each other hurts both sides alike?

hippie talk

If being an advocate for peace and mutual tolerance and respect is the definition of "hippie", then there are far too few hippies in the world! Do you honestly doubt that both sides would be better off if they set aside their hatred for each other and learned to work together for the betterment of both? Do you really think that the only solution to the problem is for one of the two sides to utterly destroy the other?

I fervently wish it were possible for both sides to agree on a secular, one state solution that guarantees religious and political freedom and adequate economic opportunities to all within its borders. I don't see that happening in the foreseeable future, and that is a crying shame, because I doubt that anything short of that will ever end the conflict and tragedy in that area.

newsflash - secularism is not tantamount to peace

It is certainly more conducive to peace than endless, fanatical and violent religious bigotry! Whether you are capable of admitting it or not, the religious freedom that we enjoy in the U.S.A. is largely due to the conscious, deliberate choice of our founding fathers to create a secular government that neither advocates nor prohibits religious belief of any kind, as long as its practitioners respect the rights of others who do not share their particular beliefs.

I have no love or respect for Hamas and what they are contributing to the misery of their own people, but at the same time I think it is probably true that at least some Israeli leaders see continuing the conflict and emphasizing and (perhaps) even exaggerating the hostility and danger of Palestinians as a sure way to guarantee continuation of the massive stream of economic and military aid and weaponry that pours into Israel from the U.S.A.

break out the tin foil hats

Do you deny that the huge amounts of foreign aid we expend to help defend Israel against the perceived threat of Palestinian and Arab aggression can be a powerful financial incentive to enhance that perception? What do you think the willful, unprovoked and deliberate attack on the electronic intelligence gathering ship, the U.S.S. Liberty, was about, if not to prevent us from gathering electronic, IDF communications that exposed the real nature and details of the famous "6 Day War" of 1967 that showed Israeli military actions in an unfavorable light? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF_6k1c_0ds Another possible motive, I suppose, was they hoped to get away with blaming their enemies for the attack, thus tricking the U.S. into direct military intervention in the war on the side of the Israelis.

I am not blind to the atrocities and crimes committed by Palestinian extremist groups, but if you think Israel is entirely blameless in this ongoing, exceedingly stupid conflict, you are more hopelessly naïve than you accuse me of being!