Residents of the Israeli city of Ma’ale Adumim in Judea near Jerusalem have complained in recent months of tunneling sounds coming from the direction of Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, Mayor Guy Yifrah revealed in a letter to the Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday.
“Over the past year, we have received many complaints from residents of the city regarding excavation noises under their homes, primarily in the Tzemach HaSadeh neighborhood,” Yifrah wrote IDF Central Command head Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, who is responsible for Judea and Samaria.
“We initially believed this concerned psychological fears due to the difficult year we’ve had, but the complaints continue and have even increased recently,” Yifrah continued, urging the IDF to carry out a “thorough examination” through intelligence and psychical checks.
The objective of the operation would be to “rule out underground tunnel excavations between al-Eizariya, Abu Dis and Ma’ale Adumim,” he said.
Earlier this year, IDF Central Command established a unit to examine alleged tunnels in Judea and Samaria. The team reportedly consists of engineering and intelligence specialists alongside civilian experts.
One of the first instances in which the IDF encountered tunnel activity in Judea and Samaria was during the July 2023 operation in Jenin, when a deep shaft was discovered in the heart of the Samaria terror hub.
The military has looked into complaints by residents of Bat Hefer, a village east of Netanya, of tunneling sounds coming from the direction of P.A.-controlled areas near the Judea and Samaria security barrier.
The IDF has also investigated possible terrorist infiltration tunnels that Israeli forces discovered near Jewish communities in the Hebron Hills in Judea and Shiloh in Samaria’s Binyamin region.
Last month, forces discovered a tunnel during a counter-terrorism operation in the Tulkarem camp in northwestern Samaria. According to the Israeli military, the underground complex was located adjacent to a hospital in the camp, situated north of the city of the same name, and contained an entrance but no exit, as it was still under construction.
