GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: A Hamas official on Monday said one of the group's tunnels revealed by the Israeli army in Gaza had "successfully" accomplished its mission, downplaying the Israeli announcement of its discovery.
On Sunday the Israeli army showed images of what it said was the biggest Hamas tunnel uncovered so far under the Gaza Strip, near the Erez crossing between the Palestinian territory and Israel.
The army said the subterranean passage had formed part of a wider branching network that stretched for over four kilometres (2.5 miles).
Israel said the tunnel cost millions of dollars and took years to construct, featuring rails, electricity, drainage and a communications network.
"The publishing of images of the long tunnel... 72 days after the start of the (Israeli) aggression, came too late," Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, told a news conference in Beirut.
"Thanks to this tunnel, the mission that we wanted to accomplish has been carried out successfully," Hamdan said without elaborating.
Israel and Hamas are engaged in a deadly war since Oct 7 when the group carried out a brutal attack that left around 1,140 people dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Some 250 people were also taken hostage to the Gaza Strip during the attack, of which 129 are still being held captive there, according to Israeli authorities.
In Israel's retaliatory assault against Hamas in Gaza, at least 19,453 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. — AFP