A Palestinian man gestures as he walks at the scene of an Israeli air strike, south of Gaza City March 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
A Palestinian man gestures as he walks at the scene of an Israeli air strike, south of Gaza City March 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

 

Jerusalem – A tunnel Israel took out in the Gaza border region on Sunday morning was “disused”, Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Izzadin Kassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, said on Sunday.

Earlier that day, a spokesperson confirmed in a phone call that the IDF had destroyed a tunnel in the Gaza border region which Hamas militants had attempted to rebuild since it was cut it off from the network of tunnels in the 2014 Gaza war.

“The tunnel that the enemy is talking about is an old and disused tunnel that was previously targeted after the Qassam Brigades used it…during the battle in 2014,” Abu Obeida said in a tweet.

The IDF and the Kassam Brigades spokespersons’ statements appeared to contradict each other, as the former seemed to insinuate the tunnel had recently been in use and the latter denied the fact.

However, later on Sunday in a phone call, a second IDF spokesperson refused to repeat the statement that Hamas militants had recently operated in the tunnel.

Tunnels dug by Hamas militants in the Gaza border region are meant to launch cross-border attacks against Israelis, according to the second IDF spokesman.

As reported by Vos Iz Neias