There is no place on earth like Gaza. Everywhere you look there are people. Vendors hawk their products on upturned plastic crates; old men lead donkeys through crowds, shopkeepers cook fresh coffee on iron stoves; and there are children everywhere: running, playing, laughing and screaming.
Life here is relentless. People shout at each other from their apartment windows, walk in lines at mosques, argue in cafes, and shoot guns into the air when they get married.
Gaza is a coastal strip 25 miles long and 7.5 miles in diameter at its widest point. Around 2.3 million people live here, the majority of whom live in small towns.
But beneath Gaza stretches a 300-mile network of tunnels, running in all directions deep underground.
They form an entire subterranean world so vast that it has been described as a “subway system” – but far larger than the subways of London or Paris.
But beneath Gaza stretches a 300-mile network of tunnels, running in all directions deep underground (file image). They form an entire subterranean world so vast that it has been described as a “subway system” – but one much larger than even the London or Paris subways (file image)
Recently released 85-year-old Israeli hostage Yocheved Lifshitz revealed that Hamas hid her and other hostages in a tunnel system that “looked like a spider web.”
When I was last in Gaza in 2016, the influence of the tunnels was felt everywhere. Thousands of people have found work there and tens of thousands more, from drivers to shopkeepers, have benefited from the money that flowed into Gaza’s economy through the work they did. But of course they were completely invisible.
It is an unsettling feeling to walk around knowing that there is an army of terrorists beneath your feet, smuggling goods, planning attacks and hiding day and night.
The Israelis recently discovered a tunnel exit on a beach in northern Israel – giving Hamas the opportunity to attack by sea.
READ MORE: Inside Gaza’s ‘terror tunnels’: Extraordinary video shot inside a 300-mile snake network illustrates the momentous task facing Israel in the fight against Hamas
The fact that the Jewish state’s secret service still only creates a rudimentary cartography of the tunnels proves how extensive, confusing and complex the network actually is.
They are everywhere and they are deadly: the lifeblood of Hamas’ war against Israel.
The tunnels are a living, breathing force – and they require fuel and oxygen to function. One of the reasons Israel has been so hesitant to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip is the knowledge that Hamas is withdrawing urgently needed aid to keep the tunnels operational.
The situation is both dramatic and brutal: Hamas has huge supplies of fuel to light its tunnels, while ordinary Gazans are admitted to hospitals that barely have enough electricity to run their equipment.
When the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) finally sent ground troops into Gaza last week, it was because they knew that to win this war they must destroy the tunnels and the terrorists in them.
Israeli officials are hesitant to discuss such a sensitive issue during an ongoing operation, but through long-standing personal contacts in the country, I was able to speak with several sources who explained to me the situation they are facing.
“Hamas’ terror machine is underground,” a senior Israeli official told me. “It’s a network of tunnels under Gaza, mostly in urban areas.” It’s absolutely impressive. You cannot destroy Hamas’ military machine without dealing with its underground terrorist network. That’s why we sent our ground troops.’
IDF sources tell me that the tunnels range from narrow corridors of about 2 x 1 meters to huge passageways that can accommodate cars and even trucks.
They are encased in concrete and well lit; They contain command and control centers, ammunition depots and weapons factories. They are used to launch attacks on Israel and also to infiltrate everything from vehicles to long-range weapons.
When I was last in Gaza in 2016, the influence of the tunnels was felt everywhere. Thousands of people have found work there and tens of thousands more, from drivers to shopkeepers, have benefited from the money that flowed into Gaza’s economy through the work they did. But of course they were completely invisible (file image). It is an unsettling feeling to walk around knowing that there is an army of terrorists beneath your feet, smuggling goods, planning attacks and hiding day and night (File Image)
Most are high enough to accommodate an average-sized man and often deep enough to avoid the IDF’s bunker-busting bombs, which can typically penetrate up to 40 meters. The deepest tunnel discovered by the IDF to date was approximately 70 meters underground.
Hiding underground means two things. First, that it’s much harder to find and kill you; Secondly, that everything above you – which are millions of civilians in Gaza – becomes your “cover”.
Amichai Chikli, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Minister of Social Equality, told me: “The biggest threat is to the people of Gaza because all these tunnel systems are covered by civilians.” So when we say they are human shields “It’s not a metaphor, we mean it literally.”
A former defense official, who could not be named because of his active reserve service, was even more blunt, saying: “They have literally created an entire underground terrorist tunnel network that is turning vast swaths of Gaza into legitimate military targets.” These sons of bitches have their tunnels deliberately placed under houses, mosques and hospitals to maximize civilian casualties. This isn’t just cynical, it’s pure evil.’
READ MORE: Inside Israel’s tunnel war in Gaza: The frightening reality of clearing the ‘city beneath a city’ that stretches for miles – as witnessed by The Mail’s NICK CRAVEN, who joined IDF soldiers who found at least 17 underground fortifications
An important question remains: how can Hamas spend millions of pounds to procure the thousands of tonnes of concrete, millions of kilowatts of electricity and millions of liters of fuel and oxygen needed to build it all when Gaza is supposedly under total lockdown by Israel?
The answer is as simple as it is depressing. “For years, the international community has been sending cement to Gaza for housing construction, and Hamas has stolen it,” the senior Israeli official said.
“And of course no one can stop them because they are the only people in Gaza who have weapons.” If they want something, they just take it. We saw this as fuel and other humanitarian aid flowed into the Strip.”
He continues: “They need the fuel for their rockets, but also to keep the oxygen and light running in the tunnels.” To put it bluntly: without fuel, the tunnels become a white elephant.
“That’s why they steal fuel from Gaza civilians and humanitarian supplies – be it desalination materials for water or, most horrific of all, fuel for generators for hospitals.”
Dr. Daphné Richemond-Barak, a professor at Israel’s Reichman University and author of “Underground Warfare,” was clear: “I have no doubt that any fuel that is currently entering Gaza is going to Hamas.” “It would be Big mistake sending fuel to Gaza would only prolong the fight,” she told me.
But building tunnels also requires equipment and expertise, and this is where the picture becomes even more frightening.
The terrorist group ISIS, which raged in Iraq and Syria before it was finally crushed by coalition forces, now has a major influence on Hamas’s military strategy.
ISIS made extensive use of tunnels when it controlled the cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. Hamas has obviously also internalized the knowledge gained there.
According to Richemond-Barak, the influence of IS is crucial here. “But we have to remember that ISIS fought in the tunnels in Syria and Iraq for a few months at most,” she says. “Hamas has been operating in the tunnels for over twenty years.”
The Israelis recently discovered a tunnel exit on a beach in northern Israel, giving Hamas the ability to attack across the sea, despite how complex the network really is. They’re Everywhere and They’re Deadly: The Lifeblood of Hamas’s War on Israel (File Image)
But it is not just IS that has helped Hamas, but a far more powerful and dangerous entity: Iran. “Over 90 percent of Hamas’s military budget comes from Iran,” the senior official tells me.
“Iran has supplied weapons and supported Hamas in its domestic weapons manufacturing capabilities.” We know that there is close cooperation between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran and Hamas. They meet, they coordinate, they work together.”
He’s not wrong. When Hamas launched drones against Israel in its last major clash of 2021, it used Shebab drones based on Iran’s Ababil-2 drone.
In Ukraine in recent months I have witnessed attacks by Russian forces using Iranian Shahed drones. An alliance of renegade actors is growing around the world. And in Gaza, its presence is felt most clearly in the tunnels.
READ MORE: The nightmarish 300-mile labyrinth of Hamas tunnels standing in the way of Israeli forces: How IDF soldiers face bloody hand-to-hand combat with terrorists in a 40-foot-deep, booby-trapped ‘Gaza Metro’ rat pit
“Never forget, the tunnels are the oxygen of a terrorist group that has a sophisticated military infrastructure – and it’s all in these tunnels,” says Richemond-Barak.
“Everything you would expect a military to do to wage war, to plan and carry out attacks, to manufacture and supply weapons, is underground.” This is important.
“The enemy’s apparatus that seeks to destroy you is underground. This is the problem the IDF faces at the strategic level.”
On a tactical and operational level: The tunnels determine the course of the IDF’s military operations – and thus also the outcome of the war.
This type of warfare poses a serious threat to the IDF. When fighting underground, the military must rethink all of its assumptions: which soldiers it uses; how it equips and trains them; what tactical guidelines it will introduce.
As Richemond-Barak argues: “The tunnels are a terrible place to fight.” Tunnel fights generally take place one on one. If you are wounded you are unlikely to be withdrawn, and of course Hamas is keen to kidnap Israeli soldiers.
“Then there are the booby traps. These can be anything from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to hostages wired to explode.”
Tunnels change everything on a tactical, strategic and operational level. That’s why they pose such a big threat to the invading forces.
The Americans tried to destroy the Viet Cong tunnels in Vietnam with B-52 bombers, while the Russians relentlessly bombed the Azov Valley steel mill in Mariupol last year.
To deal with them, armies have traditionally used their strongest forces and weapons. This, says Richemond-Barak, “explains the Israeli reaction.”
That response has so far consisted of a combination of aerial bombing raids – including dropping sponge bombs made of liquid foam that expands and hardens to seal tunnels – and the use of dogs and robots on the ground.
The tunnels are a living, breathing force – and they require fuel and oxygen to function. One of the reasons Israel has been so hesitant to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip is the knowledge that Hamas is siphoning off urgently needed supplies to keep the tunnels operational (file image). Most are high enough for an average-sized man to stand in and often deep enough to avoid the IDF’s bunker-destroying bombs, which can typically penetrate up to 40 meters. The deepest tunnel discovered by the IDF to date was approximately 70 meters underground (file image)
Israeli elite Yaholom “Diamond” units are currently searching for tunnels to destroy. Their colleagues in the Samur (“Weasel”) unit, commandos trained in underground warfare, are sent into hand-to-hand combat against Hamas terrorists.
What Israel has before it is a sophisticated, well-armed and well-financed terrorist group operating from what is essentially an underground city of terror that is unparalleled anywhere else in the world.
It is backed by Iran, a foreign power with global reach and a sophisticated political and military apparatus. Make no mistake, the goal of both Iran and Hamas is not only the destruction of Israel, but also the Western alliance that supports it.
Even if the war between Israel and Hamas seems far away, it is not. This is no different from the fight against al-Qaeda or ISIS.
This is the same type of extremely dangerous, radical Islamism that we are already seeing in parts of the UK, US and Europe. Believe me, the battle is not as far away as it seems at first glance.
At the end of our conversation, Amichai Chikli, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Minister of Social Equality, appealed: “We really need the support of the civilized world to destroy Hamas,” he told me.
“People need to understand that the same ideology can be found in the US and Europe – and that it needs to be fought there just as strongly.”