The Israeli government may have seized on the outrageous murders as a pretext for provoking Hamas into a response that would allow Israel, in turn, to invade and destroy the tunnels Hamas has dug from Gaza into Israel. Though Israeli leaders claim to have been surprised by the extent and sophistication of the tunnels they discovered, Israel’s military briefed the government on the tunnels more than a year ago, and the government created a special task force to consider how to deal with them.
以色列政府或许是抓住这次残酷谋杀作为借口挑衅哈马斯，促使后者做出可以让以色列反对来入侵和摧毁连通加沙和以色列的地道。尽管以色列领导人宣称对他们所看到的地道之广泛和复杂感到震惊，但以色列军方早在一年多前就向政府报告了地道，以色列政府还成立了专案小组研究如何应对这些地道。