Islamic Jihad tunnel toll rises to 12

Islamic Jihad said Friday five more of its members were killed when Israel destroyed a cross-border tunnel last week, raising the number of dead in the incident to 12.

Islamic Jihad said the five terrorists, who previously were considered missing, had been digging the tunnel leading from Gaza into Israeli territory “for years.”

In the 2014 Gaza war, Islamic Jihad and Hamas used tunnels to wage attacks against Israel.

“We announce that five heroes from the al-Quds Brigades have risen to heaven,” the al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, said in a statement.

The group’s statement came after Israel denied authorities in Gaza immediate access to the Gaza-Israel border area where the men were thought to be located.

Israel controls a buffer zone near its frontier with the Strip.

Last week, the Hamas-run Civil Defense in Gaza asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to request permission from Israel on its behalf to search for the five missing men in the border region.

Following a conversation between Jacques De-Maio, the Red Cross chief in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai, coordinator of government activities in the territories, the latter said in a statement on Thursday that Israel “will not allow for locating the terrorists in the tunnel without progress on the issue of missing and captive Israelis.”

Hamas is believed to be holding captive the bodies of two Israeli soldiers – Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul – as well as three Israeli civilians – Avraham Abera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed and Juma Ibrahim Abu Ghanima.

The Islamist movement has said it would like to negotiate a prisoner swap with Israel, but has conditioned launching talks on Israel releasing dozens of prisoners who were rearrested after being set free in a 2011 prisoner exchange for Gilad Schalit.

In its statement, the al-Quds Brigades also said the demolition of the tunnel “will not dissuade us from continuing our work,” but rather it will “motivate us to continue to develop this deterring weapon [tunnels].”

Islamic Jihad officials have said they hope cross-border tunnels will enable their members to kidnap Israeli soldiers, who could be used in an exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Later on Friday, a symbolic funeral was held in Deir el-Balah for the five killed terrorists. Photos of the funeral procession showed hundreds walking in the middle of the streets of the Gazan town.