The existing fence along Israel’s border with Gaza. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Hamas officials on Thursday reacted harshly to news of Israel’s construction of a new Gaza border fence, which is aimed at thwarting the threat posed by the Palestinian terror group’s cross-border attack tunnels.

“This is a declaration of war. We will not allow the occupation (Israel) to carry out its plots and crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza, and we will prevent the construction of this barrier by all means,” Hamas said.

The terror group added that “the entry of the occupation army’s troops and equipment into the Gaza Strip to carry out this work is tantamount to a military incursion into Gaza and Hamas will respond accordingly. We will not sit idly by and we will respond with force the likes of which Israel has never known.”

The IDF’s plans for the 37-mile fence include underground and underwater sections to thwart Hamas’s terror tunnels, which played a large role in the summer 2014 conflict between Israel and the terror group.

IDF Southern Command Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir told reporters Wednesday that the situation in Gaza “is stable, but volatile…If Hamas chooses to go to war over the barrier, it will be a worthy reason [for Israel] to go to war. But the barrier will be built.”