Strike in Gaza
Strike in GazaIsrael news photo: Flash 90

The IDF bombed a terror tunnel after Hamas broke its own truce again, trapping Israelis into targets of a terrorist version of Russian Roulette.

The aerial strike hit a tunnel in central Gaza that was designed for terrorists to infiltrate into Israel. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has not explained why Israel leaves such tunnels untouched so long as there are not missile or rocket attacks from Gaza.

A least one mortar shell and one rocket hit the Eshkol region Tuesday. Firing the crude rockets create a situation of Russian Roulette because they often explode in open areas in the agricultural region of the western Negev, but sometimes instead land in a deadly impact on a populated area, causing death and heavy damage.

Hamas several weeks ago declared another ceasefire on condition that Israel did not initiate counterterrorist operations, even for “ticking bombs,” imminent attacks by terrorists, whose plans often are discovered by Israeli intelligence before they can be carried out.

Other terrorist groups, such as Islamic Jihad, sometime act on their own, but the IDF said it “holds the Hamas terrorist organization solely responsible for maintaining the calm in Gaza and for any terrorist activity emanating from it.“

The return to terror in southern Israel coincides with the annual nationwide Turning Point 5 Home Front Command emergency defense drill.