A Palestinian and an East Jerusalem resident were arrested yesterday on terror suspicions after the Israel Police discovered a tunnel near the A’zaim checkpoint in the West Bank, east of Jerusalem.
Officers were called by Civil Administration officials and found the underground passage, built from the West Bank toward Israel at a depth of 25 meters, police say in a statement issued yesterday.
Cops found digging equipment, water bottles, gloves, face masks and more equipment, the statement says, adding that forensic examination yielded DNA samples that led to the arrests of the two individuals.
One suspect is a Palestinian from al-Azariya and the second is an East Jerusalem resident. Both are in their 30s.
They have been taken for questioning on suspicion of digging the tunnel recently, with the goal of using it to commit terror attacks or to allow illegal workers to enter Israel, police say.
Underground tunnels have long been a strategic tool used by terror groups in Gaza and Lebanon, but few have been discovered to date in the West Bank.
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