Hamas keeps media away from tunnel collapse that may have killed 8

From The National (UAE):

Eight members of the militant group Hamas were missing Wednesday after the collapse of a tunnel in the Gaza Strip caused by rain and flooding, a security source said.

The tunnel collapsed overnight in the area of Jabalia in the north of the Palestinian enclave after several days of rainfall, the security source in the area said on condition of anonymity.

“The resistance tunnel collapsed last night due to the weather and flooding,” the source said, adding that the tunnel belonged to Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip.

“There were 11 resistance men inside. Three of them escaped in the first hour after the accident, but the security operation ... continues to search for the eight others.”

Al Hadath reports that the tunnel was in the north of Gaza, meaning that it was not a smuggling tunnel. Heavy rains caused the collapse. It adds:

The Ministry of Health in Gaza and did not declare the existence of injuries or deaths, but media sources confirmed the loss of eight people who were inside the tunnel out of 11 people.

Official sources in Gaza continue to keep quiet about the situation, announced the closure of the area and prevented journalists from filming.

Indeed, Hamas media had not mentioned this story until the last couple of hours, and now says that all 11 trapped men were saved, denying that anyone was taken to Shifa Hospital or any other details reported.

If it wasn't a smuggling tunnel, what kind of tunnel was it?

This might be the answer:

Residents of various Israeli communities along the southern border of the Gaza Strip have renewed complaints of reverberating, underground drilling sounds possibly linked to the construction of infiltration tunnels by Palestinian terrorists, Channel 10 reported Tuesday night.

The residents told the Israeli news channel that at first they believed the middle of the night excavation sounds were caused by rain storms that hit the country earlier this week, however when the sounds desisted at 4 a.m. they realized their source was not the precipitation.

One resident, Tzila Pitusi, said it felt as if someone was breaking into her home.

"We started hearing things like concrete cracking, we felt that the concrete was rising up. We heard booms and bangs from the kitchen," another local, Esther Naim, told Channel 10.

In light of the reported issue, the southern Eshkol Regional Council head Gadi Yarkoni called on the government to act quickly to remove the threat that could lead to the possible infiltration into Israel by Gazan terrorists.

According to the report, an IDF official responded to the complaints, saying that after examination it was determined that no underground tunnels existed in Israeli territory.

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