While Israel appears poised to launch a ground assault on Gaza in response to deadly Hamas attacks, the tunnels dug by the Palestinian Islamist movement remain a key target for the Israeli army. Decryption.
Published on: October 14, 2023 – 12:00 p.m
4 mins
The tunnels dug by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, referred to by Israeli troops as the “Gaza Metro,” are a particular target of Israel.
The destruction of this underground network built by the Palestinian Islamist group is one of the themes of the conflict, while the Jewish state appears poised to launch a ground attack on Gaza in response to deadly attacks by Hamas.
Gaza’s 14-kilometer-long border with Egypt was once crisscrossed by hundreds of these tunnels, used to smuggle fighters, weapons and other contraband.
Some tunnels extend to a depth of 30 or 40 meters underground, allowing militants to change positions while protecting themselves from attacks. Their exact extent is unknown. The Israeli army announced in 2021 that it had destroyed “more than 100 kilometers” of these underground fortresses “thanks to air strikes.”
Missile batteries hidden several meters below the surface can be discovered using a trap door just long enough to fire a volley.
Hamas “knows its tunnels by heart”
The Israeli army and intelligence services certainly know the route of part of the network. However, other parts remain secret and will make any ground operation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the Gaza Strip more difficult.
Hamas “knows its tunnels by heart,” explains Colin Clarke, research director at the Soufan Center think tank in New York, in an interview with AFP. “Some are probably trapped. Prepare to fight in such terrain.” […] would need detailed information […] which the Israelis may not have,” he adds.
For this specialist, underground fighting would give Hamas defenders and their leaders a major tactical advantage.
A death trap
“Everyone knows that it will be long and difficult and that the casualties will be numerous,” adds Colin Grinberg, although technologies such as robots could benefit the attacking forces.
On the other hand, Hamas’s advantage in the tunnels “could also prove to be a trap,” he says. “When tunnels are discovered, they can be closed to trap people inside. In this case the order will probably be no mercy.”
Concrete tunnel
These tunnels were originally created in response to the Israeli blockade of the enclave following the coup that allowed Hamas to take control of Gaza in 2007. In particular, they served to secretly supply the population with goods and food from Egypt.
It is Mohamed Deif, the leader of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, who, according to Israeli services, is the author of the strategy of land incursions via underground tunnels. In 2013, the Israeli army discovered a 2.5 km long corridor connecting the Jewish state with the Gaza Strip.
Also read: Mohammed Deif, the elusive architect of the Hamas attack on Israel
In 2014, Antoine Mariotti, journalist for France 24 and former correspondent in Jerusalem, visited one of these tunnels as part of a report broadcast on France 24. A corridor made of concrete rather than sand, equipped with rails and telephone and electrical cables. According to some experts, the reporter then stated: “These tunnels can cost up to a million dollars.”
“The entrance to these tunnels is difficult to find,” explained Antoine Mariotti, “they are small holes hidden under a sofa or a carpet.”
During the 2014 election campaign, Hamas used these tunnels, high enough for a man to stand, to enter Israel. According to the Begin-Sadat Strategic Center at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, the men of the Palestinian movement subsequently managed to kill 11 Israeli soldiers in three separate attacks.
In 2017, an official report accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli army of ill-preparing the country for this “strategic” threat during the 2014 conflict. Since then, the Jewish state has developed various methods to destroy these tunnels or prevent their creation, including the construction of an underground wall belt equipped with sensors designed to detect drilling activity and to mark the borders with the Gaza Strip deep underground.
But the sustainability of this underground Hamas network shows that the Palestinian Islamist group remains able to keep its armed capabilities secret despite Israeli surveillance.
Hamas knows this and uses it to fuel fantasies about its arsenal. On the Israeli side, the destruction of these famous tunnels is a stated goal, which, in the eyes of the IDF, justifies the continuation of operations in Gaza and the massive bombing of areas where the civilian population finds refuge.
This article was first published on May 19, 2021. It has been updated with the latest developments and analysis of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
With AFP