CNN Reporter Gets Rare Tour Of ‘Terror Tunnels’
Gaza Strip Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — A CNN reporter was given a tour of an Islamic Jihad tunnel in the Gaza Strip.
The reporter, Ian Lee, described the tunnel as “hot and humid, narrow and low hanging. It feels claustrophobic,” in the report released on Sunday. He adds: “Israel has a different name for them: terror tunnels.”
In the video, the masked terrorists are seen getting a pep talk from their leader, identified as Abu Abdallah, and praying from the Koran.
Lee noted that access to Islamic Jihad and its operational sites for journalists is “rare.” He allows himself on camera to be blindfolded in order to be taken to the next site, a rocket launcher used to fire rockets into southern Israel.
Islamic Jihad last month fired more than 100 rockets and mortars, triggering a massive Israeli response. One of the rockets shot from Gaza hit an Israeli kindergarten an hour before the children were scheduled to arrive.
Abdallah told the reporter: “The world needs to know that the resistance never plans to target children,” but that sometimes their aim is off.
“The world hears the conflict only through Netanyahu’s voice. We try to make it hear us through the sound of these simple missiles, to say that we are here, we have land, we are human beings. We want to live in dignity,” Abdallah also said.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
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