TEL AVIV, January 17. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that it had destroyed a strategically important tunnel in the central part of the Gaza Strip, the press service of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

According to the statement, the tunnel was located under the Salah al-Din Road, connecting the north and the south of the enclave, and crossed Wadi Gaza. The underground passage, located at the depth of around nine meters and several hundred meters long, was used by Hamas to travel between the north and the south undetected.

The IDF said that following the detonation of the tunnel it had opened an alternative humanitarian route in the area.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.