Israel has unveiled what it says is the largest tunnel its troops have ever discovered, as its army works to expose and destroy the sprawling underground city of Hamas terrorists known as the “Gaza Metro.”
Believed to extend some 300 miles beneath the embattled enclave, Israeli soldiers have meticulously tried to locate and disable every entrance to every passage in the “spider web” of tunnels.
The network was instrumental for Hamas in organizing the October 7 atrocities in which its fighters stormed the Israeli border and murdered 1,200 people, and was used as a hideout for terrorists and their weapons.
Israel Defense Forces spokesman has now given journalists a tour of the extensive tunnel, which spokesman Daniel Hagari said is wide enough to fit a car and stretches well over 4km in length.
He said the tunnel was built to carry out a terrorist attack and ended just 400 meters (1,310 feet) short of the Erez crossing – the barrier that Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups broke through to launch their bloody attack on Israel 70 days.
The IDF shared footage it said it had recovered from Hamas showing extensive tunnel construction
Israel has unveiled what it claims is the largest tunnel its troops have ever discovered in Gaza
The tunnel is said to have cost “millions” to build, with the passage stretching for around 2.5 miles
Now a spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces led journalists through the extensive tunnel
The sophisticated tunnels are reinforced and allow Hamas terrorists to hide deep underground
The tunnel is wide enough to fit a small car and reaches more than 2.5 miles in length, Israel claims
Hagari told reporters that this tunnel system alone cost “millions of dollars,” adding that it was a project led by Mohammad Sinwar, the brother and right-hand man of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and a Hamas commander. Battalion Khan Younis.
“We will enter the largest tunnel we have found in Gaza, the greatest secret of.” [Mohammad] “Sinwar, his underground tunnel project,” the commanding officer said as he led a triumphant tour of the underground hideout.
The IDF has vowed to hunt down and kill Sinwar, who is said to be hiding “deep underground.”
IDF spokesman Avijaa Adraei explained how the huge tunnel was uncovered.
“Attack operations were launched against our forces during the fighting in the Gaza Strip from the above-mentioned tunnel,” he said.
“A few days ago, saboteurs were spotted in the tunnel and eliminated by IDF forces.”
Israel has also released amazing footage that purports to show the construction process behind the cavernous passageways.
Video clips show workers drilling into the walls to widen the passageways and their supervisors being given a tour of the sprawling stretch.
Speaking about the efforts Hamas has made to build its vast network, Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said: “Hamas has persistently and deliberately invested enormous amounts of money and resources in terrorist tunnels that serve only one purpose – attacking the State of Israel .” and its residents.
“This strategic attack tunnel network, large enough to accommodate vehicles, was led by Muhammad Sinwar and deliberately dug near a crossing dedicated to the migration of Gaza citizens to Israel for work and medical care,” he said the IDF spokesman continued.
Mohammad Sinwar (left), the younger brother and right-hand man of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and commander of the Hamas battalion Khan Younis
Troops gathered around the entrance to what Israel says is the largest Hamas tunnel Israel has ever found in Gaza
Israeli soldiers led members of the press through the huge tunnel, which was equipped with wires and pipes
“For Hamas, attacking the people of Israel continues to take priority over supporting the people of Gaza.”
This came after Israel previously released footage purporting to show the entrance to a tunnel hidden beneath a baby's bed.
Troops from the Nahal Infantry Brigade's 931st Battalion said they came across the tunnel shaft opening in a house in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
A company commander from the 931st Battalion leads a tour of the house and reveals where the soldiers found the tunnel.
According to the IDF, the underground passage is a “strategic” Hamas attack tunnel, and after its discovery, the route was later destroyed by combat sappers.
Some of the extensive network's tunnels lie up to 40 feet underground.
Israel previously released footage purporting to show the entrance to a tunnel hidden beneath a baby cot
They are used by Hamas militants to ambush unsuspecting Israeli troops. They may be booby-trapped or filled with explosives so that they can collapse immediately if IDF troops enter.
Since launching its offensive in Gaza following the October 7 attacks, the IDF says it has uncovered hundreds of terror tunnels across the Gaza Strip.
Many encountered were built of reinforced concrete and equipped with electricity, ventilation, sewage, communications networks and rails, the IDF said.
A Palestinian fighter from the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, gestures in an underground tunnel in Gaza, August 18, 2014 (File photo)
A Palestinian militant emerges from a tunnel in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip (file image)
In many cases, the tunnels were also built under hospitals, schools and mosques, according to the IDF, which has accused Hamas of using civilians as “human shields.”
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Israel recently received a shipment of 2,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs designed to penetrate the ground and destroy the tunnels.
According to the report, Washington handed over 100 of the BLU-109 bombs to Israel, weapons designed to break through hardened structures before exploding.
Another tactic Israel could soon use would be pumping in seawater to drive the terrorists out of their underground hideout.
Videos shared by Israeli media also appear to show IDF soldiers working on the pipes underground
Israel is said to have installed at least five pumps about a mile north of the Al-Shati refugee camp that could move thousands of cubic meters of water per hour – meaning they could flood the 300-mile network of tunnels within weeks
Israel is said to have installed at least five pumps capable of moving thousands of cubic meters of water per hour about a mile from the Al-Shati refugee camp in the north of the coastal enclave.
On Thursday, the Times of Israel reported that an attempt using the flooding method had been a success – increasing fears that Israeli hostages or innocent Palestinians could be killed in the tunnels.
Tactics used by the Israeli military to destroy Hamas's underground network throughout the Gaza Strip
Israel has been accused of not doing enough to protect civilian lives in its attempt to eradicate Hamas.
Israel has continued to carry out attacks on alleged militant targets across Gaza, despite previously telling residents to seek safety in the south.
According to the territory's Hamas government, at least 18,800 people, mostly women and children, were killed in the attack.
In a still from a video released by the IDF of the operation in Khan Younis, an Israeli soldier is seen in a tank
Smoke pours from a bombed building in the southern city of Khan Younis
Bodycam footage shows Israeli troops in the field during an operation in which they stormed holiday homes belonging to Hamas leaders
This comes after the IDF released dramatic bodycam footage showing the moment an Israeli soldier tosses a hand grenade into a tunnel shaft while confronting Hamas militants in northern Gaza.
Fierce fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas continues, even as international and domestic pressure grows to scale back the offensive in the besieged enclave.
Israeli air and ground strikes hit around 200 targets last day, including several Hamas-used apartments in the Gaza City suburb of Shejaiya, where paratroopers reportedly found weapons supplies.
The soldier recording the bodycam footage tells the others to hold fire as he pulls out the pin on a grenade
According to the army, Israeli soldiers circle the entrance to a tunnel shaft in which a Hamas fighter is hiding and from which he is firing
Smoke pours from the shaft as the two sides exchange fire before an Israeli soldier throws a grenade into the tunnel
During his operations in the area, a soldier from the IDF's 188th Brigade filmed himself cautiously approaching a tunnel shaft before a terrorist broke cover and shot him and his comrades from inside.
They begin to return fire before the soldier tells the others to stand back as he pulls out the pin on a grenade and throws it into the tunnel.
The IDF said the melee was successful and its troops “neutralized the terrorist and destroyed the tunnel shaft.”