All about Hamas’ mysterious web of tunnels that is delaying Israel's ground offensive
The tunnels are used by the Palestinian movement to hide and store weapons as well as its command structure
Israel’s military may be sophisticated and lethally powerful but there is one area where its hardened foe Hamas has a distinct advantage: a labyrinth of winding underground tunnels all across Gaza.
The tunnels are used by the Palestinian movement to hide and store weapons as well as its command structure, their exit and entry points at times located under residential quarters and high-rise buildings.
On October 7, when the Hamas stunned the Israeli state and killed hundreds with a multi-pronged intrusion, it is known that at least some of the gunmen came through one such secret tunnel.
Military experts believe some of the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas may be captive in Gaza or perhaps spirited out of Gaza into Egypt through these tunnels.
Since 2014, Israel has spent more than $1 billion to develop an underground barrier along its 60-km border with the Gaza Strip and to detect new tunnels which it derisively calls “Gaza Metro”.
Ground offensive
It is these tunnels – which are known to criss-cross underground all across Gaza and whose mapping is known only to the Hamas – that is delaying Israel’s planned ground offensive.
“Think of the Gaza Strip as one layer for civilians and then another layer for Hamas,” said Jonathan Conricus of the Israeli Defense Forces. “We are trying to get to that second layer that Hamas has built.”
When Israel announced in 2021 that it had destroyed 100 km of tunnels underneath Gaza, Hamas retorted that its network was 500 km long. Nobody knows if this was just a board or the truth.
If the Hamas claim is true, then the underground tunnels would be a little less than half the length of the New York City subway system, media reports say.
An Israeli missile system known as Iron Dome are meant to detect the tunnels but the Tel-Aviv based Institute for National Studies says the turns and intersections confuse the missiles.
Over the years, Hamas for steadily improvised the tunnels under the densely-populated Gaza. The passageways even have ventilation shafts and electricity. Hamas also stores food and water in them.
Secret passageways
Some reportedly reach a depth of 35 meters and can even be equipped with railroad tracks and communication rooms, media reports quote experts as saying.
The entrance to them often lies in residential buildings or other public facilities. The tunnels were originally meant to smuggle goods and weapons from neighbouring Egypt. Over time, they became a key part of the Hamas war against Israel.
In 2006, Hamas militants who came through one such tunnel abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. He was freed five years later after Israel freed more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Egypt clamped down on the tunnels about a decade. The Egyptians have even flooded some tunnels.
What is not clear is how Hamas built the tunnels in the coastal strip called Gaza, which has been under a land, sea and air blockade by Israel as well as a land blockade by Egypt since 2007.
Clearly, the Hamas has used concrete meant for civilian and humanitarian purposes to building the tunnels.
The Israeli military is expected to go after the network in its forthcoming ground incursion into Gaza. This is the reason it wants all civilians to vacate a sprawling area.
