Israeli Army tests tunnel detector

An Israeli army officer gives journalists a tour of a tunnel allegedly used by Palestinian militants for cross-border attacks, at the Israel-Gaza Border.

The Israeli Army is researching a sensor-based system designed to detect tunnels it says are being dug by Palestinian militants trying to infiltrate into Israel from Gaza.

The disclosure of the innovation, said to have been developed by soldiers from the army's Talpiot unit, comes after a 2-week ground incursion into the coastal territory during which military officials claimed to have found and destroyed more than 30 tunnels. Israel accuses Hamas and other militant groups of developing a tunnel network to carry out "terror" attacks.

Destruction of the tunnels was the main goal of the army's Operation Protective Edge offensive after it began a ground invasion on July 17.

Operational tests on the system are expected to be conducted soon, reported Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, which said it had been four years in the making. Pilot tests have been carried out on sewage tunnels.

If further tests are successful the scheme could be installed along the 64km frontier between Israel and Gaza at a cost of 170 million ($339 million) and 255 million, a senior military officer said.

"The system is based on sensitive sensors that can identify subterranean digging and hollow spaces underground," the officer said.

The conflict has seen the deaths of more than 1940 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Sixty-seven have died on the Israeli side, all soldiers.

Palestinian and Israeli negotiators were involved in negotiations in Cairo aimed at establishing a long-term ceasefire, as a temporary truce still holds.