Hamas executed dozens of terror tunnel diggers

By JNS.org August 11, 2014, 3:50 pm 0 Edit

The entrance to a terror tunnel uncovered by Israeli forces operating in Gaza in July. (Credit: Israel Defense Forces)

Hamas has executed dozens of terror tunnel diggers during the past couple of weeks over fears that they could pass along information to Israel, according to the Israel news site Mako, citing a source in Gaza familiar with the tunnel industry.

However, the source said that most of the tunnel workers did not know the location of the tunnels, having been blindfolded and searched for cellphones, GPS devices or cameras, before they were transported to the tunnels to excavate.

“They would take the diggers, about a hundred men, in vans with blindfolds so that they wouldn’t know the location of the tunnels and at the end of the day would blindfold them again and return them to their homes,” claims the Gaza source. “They feared that maybe one of them was collaborating with Israel.”

According to the Gaza source, each group of excavators worked in 8 to 12 hour shifts and were paid $150 to $300 a month. They were also professional tunnel diggers who had previously worked on the smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

“They were very cruel,” the Gaza source added. “They annihilated some of the diggers because there was a rumor circulating that a few of them had worked with Israel or had been in touch with Israeli civilians.