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IDF reveals terror tunnel-busting technology

Following another terror tunnel detection and destruction, the IDF provides a glimpse into the cutting-edge technology it uses to locate and demolish the tunnels running into Israel.

By: World Israel News Staff

The IDF provided a glimpse into cutting-edge technology, concentrated in a special laboratory, which is spearheading its mission to locate and destroy Hamas’ terror tunnels running into Israel.

As part of the effort to locate and demolish terror tunnels running into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, the IDF established a unique technological laboratory which has the specific goal of detecting and locating tunnels.

The Gaza Division, under the command of Captain B. (name withheld for security reasons), created the laboratory two years ago. Captain B is an electrical engineer and a chemist by training and works with some of the best minds in a variety of technological and research positions, including physicists, engineers, intelligence personnel and geologists from the Technology and Logistics Branch.

“It takes technological, intelligence, and operational efforts, working together, to locate and thwart terror tunnels,” the IDF said Sunday.

The laboratory uses innovative ground research, such as scanning cavities and their dynamics, to expose the underground passages.

The laboratory also works to improve existing technologies, seeking to develop new discovery and mapping techniques.

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The laboratory personnel work closely with the intelligence personnel, engineering forces, and other units in the field until the tunnel is located. Once a terror tunnel is detected, it’s monitored until its finally destroyed.

The combination of technological, intelligence, and operational activity have drastically improved the rate of terror tunnel detection, the IDF noted.

Over the last few months, the laboratory has successfully located and thwarted five terror tunnels, the latest announced Sunday.

The lab has received a certificate of excellence from the Head of the Technological Brigade in the Technology and Logistics Branch.

IDF forces on Saturday exposed and destroyed a terror tunnel running from Jabalia, in northern Gaza, into southern Israel near the community of Nahal Oz.

An IDF spokesman said the tunnel was dug by the Hamas terror group and was connected to an intricate network of other tunnels running through Gaza.

Hamas has built a sophisticated network of terror tunnels in the Gaza Strip, some of which have run into Israel, used for storing weapons, smuggling and terrorist infiltration into Israel.

During the 2014 summer war with Israel, Hamas terrorists on several occasions made their way into Israel through terror tunnels, although they did not manage to reach civilian areas.

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Israel destroyed 32 tunnels during that conflict, but Hamas has since been working vigorously to rebuild the network, and the IDF has since made neutralizing the tunnel threat a top priority. The IDF has exposed several more tunnels since the 2014 conflict.

The IDF is building a new underground obstacle, meant to contend with Hamas’ tunnel threat.