JERUSALEM, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Sunday that it had destroyed a tunnel a week ago, which was the "first of its kind" with part of it being under the ocean.
According to Lt. Cl. Jonathan Conricus of the IDF Spokesperson Unit, the tunnel was operational and was a part of "Hamas attempts to break the naval blockade."
Conricus said that it was the 10th tunnel destroyed in recent months, but this one was "'unlike" any of the previous ones due to the submerged portion of it.
According to Conricus, the tunnel was situated 3 km south of the Gazan border with Israel but would allow divers "to exit the Gaza Strip without putting their heads above surface," or being detected by the Israeli navy.
The Israeli military believed Hamas has naval commandoes actively trained to carry out attack missions against Israel. At the beginning of the 2014 war, several Hamas militants were caught and then killed on a southern Israeli beach with scuba diving equipment and weapons.
"The IDF sees it as a probability that there are more such tunnels," said Conricus.
According to the IDF, the tunnel was destroyed by the Israeli Air Force.
The IDF has recently announced the construction of an underwater barrier in the maritime border with the Gaza Strip in an attempt to thwart underwater infiltrations.
The Gaza Strip, which borders southern Israel, is controlled by the Hamas movement. Hamas does not recognize Israel and the two have fought several wars, the last one in the summer of 2014.
The war began with the discovery of a tunnel that Hamas constructed in order to infiltrate into Israel and carry out attacks.
Since then, Israel has been developing methods for detection of such tunnels.
Israel and Egypt have imposed a strict air, sea and land blockade on the territory since Hamas violently took control of Gaza in 2007.
