‘Tanks don’t run on wheels’: Israel mocks hardware ‘captured & rebuilt’ by Hamas

During a memorial service Saturday for seven Hamas militants killed when the tunnel they were in collapsed on them, Hamas rolled out what it called a “locally-produced” tank it said was fashioned out of an Israel Defense Forces’ tank captured two years ago.

Last week, seven members of Al-Qassam were announced dead in a tunnel collapse due to rain floods.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said a local commander was among the two members killed in Tuesday’s collapse in the area of the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Ismail Haneya, Hamas deputy chief, admitted that the militants are digging tunnels in eastern Gaza Strip, and that “the upcoming battle will be the starting point for the liberation of Jerusalem and its holy sites”.

The tunnels are used against Israeli targets for years, according to the movement. An Israeli army spokesperson said she was looking into the reports.

Hamas claims to have rebuilt numerous tunnels that were destroyed during 2014’s devastating war with Israel.

The collapse last night was the second such incident since last week.

Ofir Gendelman, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman, commented the “tank” looked like it was made of wood, and added tanks don’t run on wheels.