What was a Hamas terrorist doing in a Gaza tunnel that caused him to die now, weeks after the August 26 ceasefire?
That question is on the minds of many following the Friday admission by Hamas's "military wing," the Al-Qassam Brigades, that one of its members has died in a Gaza tunnel.
The terrorist, identified by the Al-Qassam Brigades as Ahmad Riyad al-Hadad, died during "underground activities" according to the statement, which neglected to specify what exactly those activities were and how he died.
Gaza has hundreds of tunnels leading to Sinai for smuggling and human trafficking, hundreds more underneath Gaza itself to facilitate terrorism and attacks on the IDF when it is forced to act in the area, and as was unveiled lethally in Operation Protective Edge - dozens of terror tunnels dug into Israel to enable attacks on Israeli civilians.
It remains unclear which of the various types of tunnels al-Hadad died in, although given his membership with the Al-Qassam Brigades it is quite possible he was working on terror tunnels despite the current ceasefire.
Over 30 of Hamas's terror tunnels were destroyed by the IDF in the operation, although there are concerns that others were not found. It has been revealed that Hamas and other Gaza terrorist groups such as Islamic Jihad have already started rebuilding the tunnels; video evidence shows that the renewed digging of the tunnels started even minutes after the ceasefire.
The Al-Qassam Brigades terrorist's death is made all the more suspicious by comments made by Hamas spokesperson Husam Badran during the operation last month, in which he spoke about the terror preparations since the last such operation - 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense.
"Hundreds of our men were martyred digging the tunnels during the previous lull period. ...The mujahideen of the Al-Qassam Brigades were getting ready in the tunnels," revealed Badran, speaking specifically about the terror tunnels leading into Israel.
Despite the evidence of renewed tunnel digging and the fact that construction materials for humanitarian purposes have been used by Hamas for tunnel building for many long years, Israel agreed to a UN proposal on Tuesday to allow in such goods with some sort of oversight mechanism to try and prevent terrorist appropriation of the materials.
That same Tuesday the ceasefire was breached by Gaza mortar fire, although Hamas, which has breached numerous ceasefires, denied involvement and said it arrested the perpetrators.
Many residents of the Gaza Belt area have left the region for the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana), amid fears that Hamas is planning an attack. Indeed, it was revealed that Hamas had planned to use the tunnels the IDF destroyed in a massacre against Jews on Rosh Hashana.