At least 8 Hamas militants were killed digging underground tunnels after heavy rains northeast of Gaza City caused the tunnel to collapse, according to a report by Israel Radio citing Palestinian sources. Stormy weather led to the collapse of a tunnel in al-Tuffah, which is in northern Gaza. According to the media reports, the militants were killed during the tunnel's collapse and were buried alive.The Ministry of Health in Gaza spokesman denied the reports, claiming no bodies were brought to the hospital from the tunnel collapse. On Saturday, the Ministry reported that a Hamas militant was killed in tunnel collapse in Khan Yunis.Hamas has been steadily rebuilding its military terrorist infrastructure since since Operation Protective Edge last summer, including the restocking of its rocket arsenal and the digging of attack tunnels, including some that reach inside Israeli territory. It is estimated that since the end of Protective Edge, Hamas has dug dozens of tunnels of varying lengths. 32 tunnels were dug by the summer of 2014, and according to a senior IDF source, they were all destroyed completely during the war to the extent that it would be impossible to reconstruct them.Noam Amir contributed to this report.
Gaza and Israel's southern coastal areas have been especially rainy during the winter storm system of the past days. The weather station at Kibbutz Be'eri near the Gaza border recorded 114 millimeters of rain since January 22.
