MEMRI exposes an Al-Jazeera program where their reporter gains access to newly dug underground Gaza tunnels, showing the Islamist group’s preparations for its next war against Israel.

By i24news

The Islamic Jihad claims it has begun rebuilding its system of underground tunnels in Gaza, according to an Al-Jazeera report in a video translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Palestinian dug terror tunnel in Gaza- Photo: David Buimovitch/AFP/Archives

In the video, (shown below) which was broadcast last week, an Al-Jazeera reporter was blindfolded and given access to a tunnel reportedly under construction.

“What is remarkable about this tunnel is that it is has been dug recently,” he says. “As you can see it is still being dug.”

The masked militant digging in the tunnel says he is a member of the Al-Quds Brigades, an armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

“We are now inside one of the tunnels of the Al-Quds Brigades, on which work began the minute the war on Gaza ended and the ceasefire was declared,” the masked militant tells the reporter.

“We will not be hindered by the threats of the enemy or by the ban on importing cement and other building materials,” he adds.

The report comes following a declaration Sunday by an unnamed Israeli senior official, who said that Hamas had already begun producing new rockets and reconstructing tunnels, just weeks after the ceasefire between the Islamist factions and Israel was declared. A defense official rejected the claims, saying the “information is unclear to us.”

Israeli forces destroyed roughly 30 tunnels bordering its territory during Operation Protective Edge, which lasted 50 days.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants parade down a street in downtown Gaza City on August 29, 2014 – Photo: Roberto Schmidt /AFP

In the video, the Islamic Jihad militant declares that the group is preparing for the next round of battle and that the tunnels in question would be used to launch attacks and fire mortars and artillery on Israel.

“These tunnels will also have other uses, which we will not disclose,” he tells the reporter.

The reporter in turn argues that the new tunnels indicate what the “near future will have in store in the Gaza Strip, especially if the conditions and demands of the Palestinian resistance are not met.”

The reporter then emerges at one end of the tunnel into a room where militants stand overhead and declare that it will be used “for launching anti-tank weapons, especially the Kornet missile.”

“Allah willing, we are awaiting instructions to go out and take on the targets of the enemy,” the masked jihadist declares.

At the end of the video the militants step out of the tunnel and quickly assemble a rocket launcher in an orchard. Militants then show a shoulder-held anti-aircraft weapon in the final frame that could be used against the Israeli Air Force.

View original i24news publication at: http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/43188-140909-video-shows-islamic-jihad-s-new-gaza-tunnels