How Hamas uses tunnels in Gaza to target Israel

It’s Day 5 of Israel’s war against Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that launched an audacious attack through air, land and sea on Saturday (7 October). In its attempt to “achieve the destruction of the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad” as Benjamin Netanyahu said, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has launched a large-scale counter-attack in the Gaza Strip. On Tuesday (10 October), the IDF announced it was able to retake control of the Gaza border fence, which had been breached by Palestinian Hamas gunmen earlier. Some deemed this as a big win for Israel, but experts state that the fence isn’t the only way through to this part of southern Israel. They raise the issue of tunnels – there’s a labyrinth of tunnels under through Gaza into Israel – which Hamas has used repeatedly either to smuggle fighters, weapons or even other contraband. Inside the Gaza tunnels built by Hamas Over the years, Hamas has built a network of tunnels in the Gaza Strip, almost like an underground city. This is after they realised that they could not confront the might of the Israeli military. Hence, they built a network of tunnels, giving them an advantage. However, importantly, Hamas did not invent this model; it was imported from Hezbollah who developed a similar network in southern Lebanon in the 1990s in an attempt to deal with Israel’s airspace dominance. Some of these tunnels lead directly from Gaza to Israeli communities near the border, enabling Hamas terrorists to infiltrate, kidnap and attack Israeli civilians. The residents of southern Israel live in constant fear knowing that, at any time, a terrorist could emerge from a tunnel near their house and abduct or murder their neighbours or children. Most of these tunnels are a metre wide and perhaps two-and-a-half-metre high, allowing for a man’s to gain easy access. In many cases, the tunnels descend deeper, reaching up to 30 metres below the surface and have been built by the Hamas at an enormous cost. In a previous report, Washington Post had said that Hamas had built more than 1,300 tunnels since 2007 at a cost of $1.25 billion, diverting funds that could have been spent on public infrastructure in Gaza. According to Israeli forces, most often the access points to these tunnels are hidden between schools, mosques, hospitals and other civilian buildings. This is done to avoid detection from the IDF. [caption id=“attachment_13229672” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A general view shows the interiors of what the Israeli military say is a cross-border attack tunnel dug from Gaza to Israel, on the Israeli side of the Gaza Strip border near Kissufim. File image/Reuters[/caption] What’s even more important to note is that Hamas has been building three different types of tunnels under Gaza. Eado Hecht, an Israeli defence analyst specialising in underground warfare, explains that there are the smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. Then there are the defensive tunnels inside Gaza, used for command centres and weapons storage. Lastly, there are offensive tunnels used for cross-border attacks on Israel. Such is the expanse of these tunnels that Israeli forces call it ‘The Metro’, enabling Hamas to fight ‘a war of attrition’. In many cases, these tunnels run for miles and miles, interconnected and allowing to safe and undetectable passage.

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The tunnels, interestingly first came up in response to an Israeli blockade imposed after Hamas took power. Since then, they have been used for other purposes, with Hamas leaders calling them as an “innovation” and insisting that they are largely defensive. In fact, in 2006 when Hamas terrorists attacked an IDF post, they used a tunnel to capture Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit . Shalit was held captive for five years before his release as part of a 2011 prisoner exchange deal. In another instance, Hamas, during the 2014 Gaza War, had released videos of men carrying automatic weapons and grenade launchers, crawling from a hole in the ground. It was Gerard De Groot, a professor of history at the University of St Andrews who writes about war and politics, who according to a Washington Post, described the tunnels as being able to “evoke a peculiar horror — as though the devil himself were emerging from hell to spread torment on Earth.” [caption id=“attachment_13229682” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group walks in a tunnel in the Gaza strip. These tunnels are difficult to detect, allowing the militants safe passage. File image/AFP[/caption] Hamas continues to bank on the Gaza tunnels, as they are very difficult to detect. Therefore to discover the tunnels, the Israelis must either have excellent intelligence from within Gaza or they must go in and search for them house by house. Moreover, destroying a tunnel is a lengthy and somewhat complex operation because just blowing in the entrance or some of the airshafts leave most of the tunnel intact, so Hamas diggers will be able to quickly dig bypass sections and continue to use the tunnel, reports the BBC. Israel’s destruction of ‘The Metro’ In the ongoing war against Hamas, the IDF has been striking Hamas tunnels to choke their movement. Al Jazeera has also reported that Israel in an attempt to destroy these tunnels are also using bunker busters, a powerful type of bomb. These bunker busters burrow deep into the ground before detonating and are capable of destroying buried, hardened targets. Yossi Mekelberg, an expert on Israel at the London-based think tank Chatham House, has called them “quite powerful but horrible pieces of ammunition.” But this isn’t the first time that Israel has targeted the tunnel network in Gaza. In May 2021, Israel said 54 aircraft took part in an operation targeting an elaborate tunnel system it describes at the “Metro” used by militants to move safely and avoid surveillance. [caption id=“attachment_13229732” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Palestinians inspect the rubble of the West mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Israel’s military battled to drive Hamas fighters out of southern towns and seal its borders Monday, as it pounded the Gaza Strip. AP[/caption] At the time, IDF spokesperson Lt Col Jonathan Conricus told The Washington Post that the tunnels are the “backbone” of Hamas operations. Prior to that, in 2018, Israel destroyed a tunnel in the Gaza Strip, which it had partially destroyed during the 2014 Gaza war. But as former senior military figures explain that for each tunnel destroyed, one is built. Moreover, there is no guarantee that every single one will be found and “neutralised”. Besides destroying tunnels, Israel has also come up with alternate ideas to combat them. One of them was building an ambitious underground wall along the border with Gaza for the purposes of thwarting infiltration by Hamas through its tunnels. With inputs from agencies