Israeli Col. Tomer was literally tipped off to the tunnel snaking under a Palestinian village when the tank-churned earth gave way under the weight of one of his behemoth bulldozers.
Twenty-four hours later, on Wednesday, his forces cleared a greenhouse that had provided cover and dug a 3 meter-deep (10 foot) crater exposing the concrete-reinforced passage wide enough for a man in battle gear to squeeze through.
It would take several days, the officer told Reuters at the scene — the exact location could not be reported under military rules — to map out the half-dozen suspected access shafts to the tunnel, one of which, he said, was concealed by a Palestinian home.