Hamas’ Gaza smuggling tunnels may soon have the capability to smuggle long range missles and rockets into Gaza in one piece, according to a senior IDF official who spoke with the Jerusalem Post.

The terrorist group’s operatives and contractors would need to widen new tunnels or old ones that weren’t destroyed during Israel’s recent Operation Cast Lead campaign.

Israel hit Hamas targets in Gaza on Sunday, including some of the terrorist group’s security caravans in the central Gaza village of al-Mughraqa (see map below):

View Larger Map
According to Haaretz, the caravans served as Hamas’ security headquarters.


The IDF says that the attack on Hamas was a response to “the barrage of Qassam rockets and mortar shells fired at Israel today, which wounded an Israeli civilian and two IDF soldiers.”

Also hit were Hamas smuggling tunnels coming from Egypt into Gaza. Last year, Hamas reportedly took in $20 million U.S. dollars per month from Gaza tunnel smuggling operations.

A Japanese reporter and his cameraman shot this video of a Gaza smuggling tunnel operation between Rafah and Egypt:

Hamas terror chief Khaled Meshal and Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met in Iran on Sunday, February 1, 2009.

Iranian ‘Supreme Leader’ Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei told Meshal in Tehran that “the Islamic resistance (Hamas) should be prepared for any possible situation, including a fresh war in Gaza,” according to Iran’s state-controlled media outlet, Fars.

Last Spring, Iran promised the Hamas terrorist group advanced missiles, other weapons, financial support, and military training.

According to the Israeli Defense Forces, Amir Mansi, the commander of the Hamas rocket launching program in the Gaza City area, was killed on Saturday, January 20, 2009 by IDF fire with assistance of the Shin Bet a/k/a Shabak, the Israeli Security Agency.

Mansi was also the leading Hamas authority on the terrorist group’s Grad long range missile launching program.

According to the IDF, Mansi directed and actively fired dozens of rockets at Israel, killing and wounding Israeli civilians. Mansi was spotted firing a rocket in the Jabal al-Rais area during a ground force operation today. The forces opened fire, killing Mansi and injuring two additional terror operatives.