Hamas still digging terror tunnels but IDF can deal with them: chief of staff

The IDF chief of staff said Wednesday morning that Hamas continues to dig tunnels in Gaza for attacks against Israel, and that the tunnels pose a very serious threat but do not threaten Israel's existence. Lieut. Gen. Gady Eisenkot was speaking a meeting of a Knesset committee examining how the country dealt with the tunnels during the 2014 operation against Hamas in Gaza. Eisenkot stated that the IDF's ability to deal with the tunnels has "significantly improved", adding that he would be more specific afterwards in a later part of the meeting behind closed doors. He also said the IDF's strikes against Hamas in Gaza are against "significant targets". According to Eisenkot, Israel spent 1.2 billion shekels in 2016 to deal with the tunnel threat in addition to the country's investment of 3 billion shekels to build a barrier around Gaza.