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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061019/wl_afp/mideastconflictisrael_061019163003
Israel Hunts for Tunnels in Major Gaza Raid
[AFP/Yahoo] Mehdi Lebouachera - Israeli soldiers were plowing up the ground and destroying tunnels used to smuggle arms from Egypt in their deepest incursion into the Gaza Strip in more than a year. Hundreds of troops were Thursday operating up to four km. inside Gaza on the outskirts of the southern border town of Rafah. A senior Israel Defense Ministry official said the operation was to stop "terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad from arming themselves with a view to taking control of the Gaza Strip and launching attacks on Israel." Local Palestinian Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, 40, openly admitted that tunnels were part of everyday life in southern Gaza. "It's something normal. People aren't working so they dig tunnels to smuggle all sorts of things from Egypt," he said.