Israeli security officials cleared for publication on Monday the recent discovery of a large cave complex in the Judean hill country that had been used by Hamas and other terror groups for training.
The Israeli army raided the caves, described as the Hamas version of the Taliban's Tora Bora cave complex in Afghanistan, after receiving an intelligence tip from the Israel Security Agency.
Inside the caves, soldiers found material evidence that the area had been used as a military training facility by Hamas.
The Judean hills are full of similar networks of caves that for centuries dating back to the Roman occupation of Israel served as homes for refugees and the more outcast sectors of society. Because of the abundance of such caves, their use by criminal or terrorist elements is difficult to detect and prevent.