Hamas rebuilding terror tunnels

(JNS.org) Hamas has reportedly renewed work on its terror tunnels, using building materials transferred from Israel for the reconstruction of civilian structures in Gaza following this summer’s war.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Palestinian sources inside of Gaza said that after Israel allowed a limited flow of goods and materials into Gaza, a black market for mortar paste emerged that allowed Hamas to renew construction of concrete slabs used to line the inside of tunnels. Hamas has also started to rebuild its rocket arsenal from “dual-use” materials such as iron, which is being smuggled through the Egyptian border or by sea. 

Yedioth Ahronoth also reported that Hamas is formulating a new strategy for infiltrating Israel during the next round of fighting due to the success of the Iron Dome missile defense system in intercepting Hamas rockets. 

Meanwhile, two months after international donors pledged $5.4 billion to help rebuild Gaza, only 2 percent of the money has been transferred. At the conference in Cairo in October, Qatar promised $1 billion, Saudi Arabia $500 million, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates $200 million each, and the United States and European Union a combined $780 million in various forms of assistance.

But only $100 million has been delivered to Gaza so far, with mainly the Arab countries being slow to transfer the funds, Reuters reported. 

“The Arab countries haven’t paid anything until now,” Mufeed al-Hasayna, the Palestinian Authority’s housing minister, said earlier this month.