ISRAELI MILITARY SAYS TOP MISSION IS COUNTERING GAZA TUNNELS:Israel’s top general said Tues. 9 Feb. 2016 that the military’s number one mission for 2016 is to counter the renewed threat posed by terrorist attack tunnels from Gaza. Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said Gaza’s Hamas rulers have been rebuilding the sophisticated network of underground tunnels that Israel targeted during the 2014 war. “Hamas is diverting great resources to restore what it considers a pattern that allows it to enter Israel discreetly and carry out attacks,” Eisenkot said. “We have the most advanced abilities in the world and still this is a major challenge.” Israel launched its 2014 offensive in Gaza to stop years of frequent rocket attacks. But as the campaign intensified, and Israel became increasingly adept at shooting down incoming projectiles with its Iron Dome system, the tunnels emerged as an even greater threat. Israel then sent in troops that destroyed more than 30 tunnels Hamas had built to infiltrate and carry out attacks against soldiers and civilians. The border area has since remained largely quiet, but Hamas has publicly boasted that it has rebuilt its tunnel network. Israelis living near the border have also reported hearing tunneling sounds under their homes recently and have been pressing the government to do something about it. The IDF claims to be working, mostly in secret, to locate and destroy the Hamas tunnel threat from Gaza, Eisenkot said. "We have advanced capabilities. We are doing a lot, but many of these efforts are hidden from the public. We have dozens, if not a hundred, engineering vehicles on the Gaza border." (Washington Post/Times of Israel) Continue to pray that all terrorist tunnels being built in and from Gaza will be discovered and eliminated before future attacks occur.