THE tunnellers of Rafah are celebrating a rare blow that dented the might of their enemy. Just under two miles from the military base that was attacked from underground on Sunday, Palestinian militants were jubilant yesterday.

Rafah is a shattered city with frontline buildings more bullet holes than cement. But speaking from a secret location, a tunnel specialist with the Popular Resistance Committees — one of the three militant groups that attacked Kerem Shalom — said that tunnels were a key weapon against Israel. “Whether it is a tunnel or anything else, any military attack against the Israelis affects their psychology,” the heavily bearded militant, of wiry body and calloused feet, told The Times.

“For us, we have a deep belief that what helps the Israeli soldier is his machinery, not his courage,” the man said. “Inside, he is shaking, but he is better equipped.”

The attack on Sunday was not the first, but at more than 650m (2,130ft) — 300m of it in Israel — the Kerem Shalom tunnel was nearly twice as long as any other of its kind and took months to build. Most tunnels go from Rafah into Egypt and are dug by smuggling gangs to move people, drugs, weapons and equipment into the 45km (28-mile) coastal strip, which is virtually sealed off from the outside world by Israel.

The tunneller said that tunnels were still being scooped out by hand, but that the factions had speeded up the process by using machinery to remove the soil.

On a previous visit to Rafah The Times saw a tunnel with an entrance hidden beneath a shower drain. It was equipped with a telephone, wooden planks to shore up the earth and a motor winch and railway line to pull goods or people through its 70cm by 70cm (28in by 28in) hole.

As deep as 20 metres, they have ventilation shafts every 200 metres or so and, on a good day the engineers can dig 15 metres, working in three shifts, using a compass to set the direction and observers above ground.

“It depends on the nature of the ground,” the militant said. “The closer you go to the sea, the sand is very loose, so it might collapse. The further east you go, it is mud. It is a very risky business, very risky. Every time you go down, you go like a martyr: you know you might not come back.”

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