TEL AVIV, Israel – A tunnel within the Gaza Strip was extensive sufficient for a senior Hamas official to drive a automobile via.
One other virtually prolonged three soccer fields and was hidden beneath a hospital.
The Israeli military discovered one beneath the home of a senior Hamas commander Spiral staircase which resulted in a tunnel of approx seven flooring deep.
These particulars and new details about the tunnels, a few of which had been launched by the Israeli navy and documented via movies and pictures, underscore why the tunnels had been thought of an enormous menace for the Israeli military in Gaza even earlier than the struggle started.
However Israeli officers and troopers who’ve been within the tunnels since then — in addition to present and former U.S. officers with expertise within the area — say they had been amazed by the dimensions, depth and high quality of the tunnels constructed by Hamas.
Even a part of it equipment The truth that Hamas constructed the tunnels, as seen in recorded movies, shocked the Israeli navy.
The Israeli navy now believes that There are a lot of extra tunnels beneath Gaza.
First calculations
In December the community was estimated to be round 250 kilometers.
Senior Israeli protection officers, who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate intelligence issues, at present estimate the community to be between 350 and 450 miles (564 and 725 kilometers) lengthy, extraordinary figures for an space that’s simply 25 miles lengthy at its longest level.
Two of the officers additionally estimated that there have been approx 5,700 wells separate ones resulting in the tunnels.
The numbers can’t be independently verified, and Israeli officers have made totally different estimates concerning the extent of the tunnel community primarily based on various intelligence.
However Hamas’s immense efforts to militarize the enclave are plain; The Israeli military’s intelligence failures don’t underestimate the attain and significance of the community for Hamas’s survival.
At a gathering in January 2023, a senior Israeli navy official acknowledged that the tunnels wouldn’t be constructed in any respect a consider any future struggle with Hamas attributable to Israel’s navy power, in response to a transcript of the dialogue reviewed by The New York Occasions.
“Hamas has used the time and assets of the final 15 years to remodel Gaza right into a state a fortress“says Aaron Greenstone, a former CIA agent who labored extensively within the Center East.
For the Israeli navy, the tunnels are an underground nightmare and the core of Hamas’ survival.
All of Israel’s strategic targets in Gaza at the moment are linked to the Elimination of tunnels.
“If you wish to destroy Hamas’ management and arsenal, it’s a must to destroy the tunnels,” mentioned Daphné Richemond-Barak, a tunnel warfare knowledgeable at Israel’s Reichman College.
“It has grow to be one thing that’s related to each a part of navy missions.”
technique
Hamas has invested closely within the tunnels as a result of it doesn’t have the assets or troops essential to struggle the Israeli military in a traditional struggle.
The group makes use of the tunnels as navy bases and arsenals, counting on them to maneuver their forces undetected and defend their high-ranking leaders.
A 2022 doc confirmed that Hamas had budgeted $1 million for tunnel gates, underground workshops and different bills in Khan Yunis.
Israeli secret providers not too long ago estimated that there have been round 160 kilometers of tunnels slightly below Khan Younis, the most important metropolis within the southern Gaza Strip, the place Israeli forces are at present combating fierce battles.
Yahya SinwarHamas’s navy chief in Gaza had a home in Khan Younis.
Moreover, a 2015 report famous that, in response to the Israeli navy, Hamas spent greater than $three million on tunnels throughout the Gaza Strip, together with many who run beneath civilian infrastructure and in delicate areas corresponding to faculties and hospitals had been constructed.
The Israeli navy mentioned it discovered two varieties of tunnels: these utilized by commanders and others utilized by militants.
The Commander’s tunnels are deeper and extra comfy, permitting for longer stays and using ceramic tiles.
The opposite tunnels are extra spartan and sometimes flatter.
An Israeli official mentioned the navy may have spent a yr finding a single tunnel, however now… Land marketing campaign has supplied a treasure trove of details about the underground community in Gaza.
The Israeli navy has been investigating computer systems utilized by Hamas operatives tasked with constructing tunnels to seek out underground passages, in response to a senior Israeli official.
Some paperwork captured throughout the struggle additionally show to be very important.
The Israeli military has discovered lists of households who “they accommodated” the entrances to the tunnels of their non-public houses.
In a single case, Israeli troopers positioned a map of tunnels within the northern Gaza Strip metropolis of Beit Hanoun and used it to seek out and destroy tunnels. Regardless of this info from the battlefield, the combating in Gaza over the tunnels was fierce.
The Israeli military virtually stories this 190 troopers died and about 240 have been severely injured because the floor marketing campaign started.
Nonetheless, the military didn’t present any details about the variety of lifeless and injured in reference to the tunnel struggle.
A soldier, who spoke on situation of anonymity for safety causes, mentioned he oversaw the destruction of about 50 tunnels in Beit Hanoun.
They had been all full Booby traps.
The soldier, a fight engineer officer, mentioned his unit discovered bombs hidden in partitions and an enormous explosive system hooked up to them activated remotely.
The soldier, who was a reservist and has already been discharged, mentioned the system was made in a manufacturing facility and had a serial quantity.
If it had exploded, the bomb would have killed everybody within the tunnel and simply exterior, he mentioned.
In November, Hamas launched a video that confirmed it luring a bunch of 5 Israeli troopers to the doorway to a tunnel in Beit Hanoun after which utilizing a roadside bomb to kill the troopers.
Richemond-Barak mentioned Hamas imported techniques from Syrian rebels who killed dozens of presidency troopers in a tunnel assault in Aleppo in 2014.
On January eight, Israeli troopers confirmed journalists three tunnel shafts in central Gaza: one in a one-story agricultural constructing on the outskirts of Bureij, the second in a civilian steelworks exterior Maghazi, and the third in a shed close to the Gaza Strip steelworks.
The steelworks shaft was the deepest and most difficult.
Issues went a bit downhill 30 subways and was geared up with a sort of elevator.
Troopers mentioned it was used to move items of ammunition shaped on the metal mill.
There was a bucket of projectiles or rocket heads close by.
The troopers mentioned the projectiles had been primarily based on a template of a U.S.-made yellow mortar shell with the inscription “20 mm mortar shell; Lot 1-2008”.
The troopers didn’t enable the journalists to enter the shaft as a result of there was a threat of explosion there. Nonetheless, they mentioned Hamas would carry the munitions into the tunnel to be transported to a different a part of the tunnel community the place they might be rigged with explosives.
The tunnel apparently led to a close-by corrugated iron shed.
The journalists had been escorted to this shed, the place they noticed ten giant rockets, about three meters lengthy and painted olive inexperienced. The missiles had been in lengthy, elongated cages which will have been used to move them.
The missiles had been in lengthy, elongated cages which will have been used to move them.
Troopers mentioned the missiles had a spread of about 100 kilometers.
There was an underground shaft within the floor, but it surely was unclear the place it went and to what depth.
It appeared to be shallower than the primary effectively.
The brand of the Qassam Brigadesthe navy wing of Hamas, was pushed towards a wall.
The Israeli navy later launched pictures and movies of the wells and different close by services.
A Occasions photographer additionally documented the navy infrastructure.
Troopers additionally led journalists to a 3rd tunnel shaft in a one-story agricultural constructing in Bureij, about 2.5 kilometers north, surrounded by farmland.
They mentioned the effectively was hidden behind a locked door that had been ripped off its hinges.
As soon as once more, journalists weren’t allowed to enter the tunnel.
Outdoors, about 100 meters away, navy excavators appeared to have dug out a part of the tunnel main out of the farm constructing.
Positioned about 5 meters under the floor, it was formed like an arch and was extensive sufficient for an individual to stroll via comfortably.
Hamas has improved its means to hide the tunnels, however the senior official mentioned the Israeli navy had found one of many group’s operational fashions.
The officer referred to as it the “triangle.”
Each time the Israeli navy finds a faculty, hospital or mosque, troopers know to anticipate finding an underground tunnel system beneath them, the official mentioned.
Destroying the tunnels is not any simple activity.
We have to map them, examine for hostages, and never simply injury them, however create them irreparable.
Latest makes an attempt to demolish the tunnels by flooding them with seawater failed.
The officer appreciated thatand it may take years Disable the tunnel system.
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