The Israel Defense Forces has released dramatic footage it says shows Hamas using extensive tunnel networks to plan attacks and hide from airstrikes – as IDF troops and tanks prepare for a full-scale ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
The IDF has released a sophisticated video showing Hamas fighters firing rockets through a labyrinth of underground passages and discussing operations in cavernous headquarters – all said to be beneath homes, schools, mosques and hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
“Under the streets of Gaza lies an underground city, a complex labyrinth of terrorist infrastructure,” the spokesman says, adding that the underground networks allow Hamas to “force millions of civilians to protect its terrorist militia.”
Hamas’ “metro” will soon become a battleground for hand-to-hand combat between IDF soldiers and terrorists, with tunnel battles considered some of the most dangerous for armies.
“Terrorists are hiding around every corner,” the video warns, as thousands of IDF soldiers gather at the border as they wait for the moment to launch what the prime minister says is a “long and difficult” ground offensive in Gaza.
A cloud of black smoke rises over destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip during ongoing fighting between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas
On October 29, Israeli tanks and bulldozers were spotted in the northern part of the Gaza Strip
An Israeli artillery unit fires into the Gaza Strip from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border
Part of the video appeared to show Hamas fighters digging some of the tunnels
Hamas’ “metro” will soon become a battlefield for hand-to-hand combat between IDF soldiers and terrorists
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar claimed in 2021 that the militant group had 310 miles of tunnels
Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ political leader, is seen in the video proudly announcing the extent of his group’s terror network.
He claimed in 2021 that the militant group had 310 miles of tunnels. The Gaza Strip itself is only about 140 square miles, just over four times smaller than London.
“They started saying that they had destroyed 100 kilometers (62 miles) of Hamas tunnels. “I tell you that the tunnels we have in Gaza are more than 500 kilometers long,” Sinwar said after a bloody 11-day war with Israel.
“Even if their story is true, they only destroyed 20 percent of the tunnels.”
Now Israel hopes to completely “destroy” Hamas and its entire infrastructure.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said Friday that “the only way to destroy Hamas is to drive it out of its tunnels and underground city of terror.”
According to some reports, the Israeli Air Force has done just this, using “bunker buster” rifles to destroy Hamas’ tunnel network.
The missiles’ first warhead creates a hole, then a second penetrates deeper into the earth and destroys underground structures.
However, Israel is coming under increasing pressure from its international supporters to stop fighting, and now the United States – normally its most loyal supporter – is urging a more cautious approach.
“We believe that every hour and every day of this military operation, the IDF and the Israeli government should use all available means to distinguish between Hamas terrorists, who are legitimate military targets, and civilians who are not,” the said national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on CNN.
Israeli Merkava tanks take up positions along Israel’s Gaza border as smoke from shelling rises in the background
Seen from Israel’s southern border with the enclave, a column of smoke rises over Gaza
As Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza cities continues, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari again warned civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate immediately
A Palestinian boy rides a bicycle as emergency services and people check the damage at the site of Israeli attacks on houses in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip
As Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza cities continues, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari again warned civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate immediately.
Relentless bombings today are expected to cause even more chaos. The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) announced this morning that it had received “strong threats” from Israel to “immediately evacuate Al-Quds Hospital as it would be bombed.”
The hospital is treating around 500 patients, including babies in incubators, a representative for the charity told the BBC, adding that it will not be able to carry out a mass evacuation as it “does not have the resources to do so”.
The World Health Organization said the report was “deeply worrying” and reiterated: “It is impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives.”
This came after Israel released a supposed mock-up showing what a Hamas terror base looks like beneath Gaza’s largest hospital.
A video shows a maze of underground tunnels and war rooms that serve as a militant group’s headquarters beneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
An “intelligence illustration” released by the Jewish nation’s military shows an eerie network of corridors and rooms deep beneath the buildings where thousands of civilians seek refuge and innocents are treated.
The IDF has released a sophisticated video showing Hamas fighters firing rockets through a labyrinth of underground passages
The army recently released computer-generated images that purportedly showed Hamas facilities in and around Shifa Hospital
Relentless bombings are expected to cause more chaos today, with clouds of smoke rising over the Gaza Strip
The IDF says Hamas is using people there and elsewhere as “human shields” and reiterated its continued call for civilians to move to the south of the besieged Gaza Strip ahead of the “upcoming IDF operation.”
According to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, the Palestinian death toll topped 8,000, most of them women and children.
Doctors Without Borders has called for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further deaths in the Gaza Strip and to provide urgently needed humanitarian care.
“The northern Gaza Strip is being razed to the ground, while the entire Gaza Strip is being hit, leaving civilians with no place to seek shelter,” the Switzerland-based aid group said in a statement.
“The actions of world leaders are too weak and too slow, as a non-binding UN resolution for a humanitarian ceasefire has failed to curb the indiscriminate violence being unleashed against a helpless people.”
“Hospitals are being overwhelmed with patients, amputations and surgeries are being performed without adequate anesthesia, and morgues are being flooded with corpses,” the group said.
After Israeli attacks on the Nuseirat refugee camp, a man holds wounded children near farm animals around the heavily damaged buildings
Palestinians evacuate a building destroyed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, including in the southern border town of Rafah
A view of the remains of a mosque and houses destroyed by Israeli attacks in the central Gaza Strip
Meanwhile, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned that the situation in Gaza was becoming “more desperate by the hour” and repeated urgent calls for a ceasefire to end the “nightmare” of bloodshed.
“I regret that instead of a much-needed humanitarian pause supported by the international community, Israel has intensified its military operations,” Guterres said.
“The number of civilians killed and injured is completely unacceptable.” “The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding before our eyes.”
The situation is likely to worsen dramatically for the civilians stuck in the northern Gaza Strip. Many people who fled south on Israeli orders were forced to return home after failing to find refuge from the bombing.
A huge fireball rises over Gaza City after intense Israeli attacks overnight
The Hamas rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system
The IDF has renewed its calls for civilians to evacuate to escape danger as troops continued to pour into the Gaza Strip last night and this morning and a ground attack appeared imminent.
“Overnight we increased the entry of IDF forces into the Gaza Strip, and they joined forces already fighting there,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised news conference.
He said the military is “progressing as planned in this phase of the war and expanding our ground operations,” adding that at least 331 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 32 captured since fighting broke out on October 7.
Additional ground troops entered the Gaza Strip overnight, with ground troops attacking terror cell hideouts and helping direct warplanes to new targets
Netanyahu vowed to eradicate Hamas “for the sake of our existence” after meeting the families of about 230 hostages held in Gaza since Hamas terrorists’ bloody invasion.
“This is the second phase of the war, the goals of which are clear: the destruction of Hamas’s military and leadership capabilities and the return of the hostages to their homeland,” Netanyahu told reporters.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said earlier that Israel was attacking “above and below ground” in the new phase of the war, alluding to the extensive network of tunnels that Hamas has built under Gaza.
Israeli soldiers prepare for ground maneuvers at an undisclosed location near the Gaza border
“Combined combat forces consisting of tank troops, engineer troops and infantry have been deployed on the ground in the northern Gaza Strip since early Friday evening,” the Israeli army said late Saturday.
The IDF says it has hit about 450 Hamas targets in recent days and nights, including command centers, observation posts and anti-tank missile launch sites.
Additional ground troops entered the Gaza Strip overnight, with ground troops attacking terror cell hideouts and helping direct warplanes to new targets.