In Wake of War, Israel Steps Up Effort Against Gaza Tunnels

RAFAH, Gaza Strip -- The Zughraiby farm a quarter-mile from the Egyptian border is a mound of crumbled cinder block and twisted tin roofing. Israeli forces arrived two weeks ago, used loudspeakers to warn the family to leave, then collapsed the house and outbuildings with explosives.

"We don't know why," said Mohammed Zughraiby, 19, as he sat amid the ruins catching songbirds to sell in local markets.

A walk through the wreckage reveals the reason. Covered haphazardly by a few sheets of scrap metal, a wide hole plunges 45 feet into the ground in a corner of the once-roofed chicken coop, then bends toward the border wall with Egypt.

"A well for water," suggested Adib Irmilat, 21, a neighbor and distant relative of the Zughraibys who watched Israeli forces level the small compound.

Along a stretch of sand bristling with new grass after recent rains, Palestinian smugglers and their armed clients are digging through soft earth toward Egypt's Sinai region on the far side of the border. The tunnel beneath the Zughraiby farm and dozens like it have emerged as the focus of Israeli military concerns since the summer war in Lebanon.

Hezbollah's militia stunned the Israeli army with a surprisingly potent arsenal and tunnel network built along the border. In recent weeks, Israeli officials have issued increasingly dire warnings about the dangers posed by the tunnels here, signaling that the next major military push into Gaza will focus on what's beneath the ground after months of operations concentrating on the crude Palestinian rockets flying into Israel above it.

Much of the digging is being done inside makeshift sheds, private homes and apartment buildings, whose battered facades testify to the many battles fought in this frontier town. Although tunneling in the area is as old as the border itself, Israeli military officials say higher-grade weapons are flowing through the passages to various Palestinian militias, whose arsenals until now have been relatively modest.

"These groups are constantly trying to expand and improve their weapons," said Capt. Noa Meir, an Israeli military spokeswoman. "It would not be incorrect to say they are learning from Hezbollah."

The Israeli military has presented little tangible evidence to support the claim. Palestinian officials say the military is citing the tunnels to argue for a large operation in Gaza that could help rehabilitate its reputation after the Lebanon experience. Israel's security cabinet earlier this week ordered the military to prepare plans for a large operation.

"Israel has made Gaza a target," said Ghazi Hamad, an adviser to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, the radical Islamic movement. "They jump from north to south, land to air, just to keep us exhausted. But they know from experience that military operations will never provide a solution."

Throughout its 38-year presence in Gaza, the Israeli military had little success preventing the region's seasoned smugglers from tunneling into Egypt, or into Israel along the eastern boundary. Israel withdrew its settlements and soldiers more than a year ago, setting off what Israeli officials say has been a golden age of tunneling.

In addition to being an avenue for arms, the tunnels have long served as routes for contraband cigarettes, electronics and other items. They have proved particularly useful at a time when Israel has frequently closed crossing points between the strip and the outside world, citing security concerns.