Comptroller pans ‘severe failures’ on Gaza attack tunnels

The state comptroller took the security establishment to task in a special draft report Thursday over alleged failures in dealing with the threat of attack tunnels from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

The report by Yosef Shapira contains passages criticizing the government’s handling of the tunnel threat as far back as February 2014, almost half a year before the most recent war in Gaza, when Hamas succeeded in using some of the tunnels to attack soldiers in Israel. The draft also criticizes the government’s approach to the tunnels in the wake of the war.

The draft was submitted to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot before the completion of the final report, in light of the “urgency in dealing with the tunnel issue on all fronts,” the state comptroller’s office said in a statement. It was an apparent reference to recent reports indicating Hamas has been stepping up its work on tunnels and as residents of communities near Gaza have been complaining of hearing digging sounds under their homes.

“The draft as submitted points to gaps and failures, some severe, in the readiness for the tunnel threat and dealing with them,” the statement said. “This occurred in years preceding and during [the 2014 war in Gaza]. The draft “includes reference to the various components of [resident] security in the communities [outside Gaza],” the statement added.

The statement from Shapira’s office said another chapter from the report would be published soon and deal with the cabinet’s decision-making process and the communication between the government and military during the war. Another chapter will be devoted to the technological solutions for the tunnels threat and the army’s readiness to defend the home front.