The myriad tunnels under Gaza are best known as passageways used to smuggle goods from Egypt and launch attacks into Israel. <\/p>\n
But there exists a second underground network that the Israel Defense Forces colloquially refer to as the \u201cGaza metro.\u201d It\u2019s a vast labyrinth of tunnels, by some accounts several kilometers underground, used to transport people and goods; to store rockets and ammunition caches; and house Hamas command and control centers, all away from the prying eyes of the IDF\u2019s aircraft and surveillance drones. <\/p>\n
Hamas in 2021 claimed to have built 500 kilometers (311 miles) worth of tunnels under Gaza, though it is unclear if that figure was accurate or posturing. If true, Hamas\u2019 underground tunnels would be a little less than half the length of the New York City subway system. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very intricate, very large \u2013 huge \u2013 network of tunnels on a rather small piece of territory,\u201d said Daphne Richemond-Barak, a professor at Israel\u2019s Reichman University and expert on underground warfare. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear how much the tunnel network would have cost Hamas, which governs the impoverished coastal strip. The figure is likely significant, both in terms of manpower and capital. <\/p>\n
Gaza has been under a land, sea and air blockade by Israel, as well as a land blockade by Egypt, since 2007 and is not believed to possess the type of massive machinery typically used to build tunnels deep underground. Experts say that diggers using basic tools likely burrowed deep underground to dig the network, which is wired with electricity and reinforced by concrete. Israel has long accused Hamas of diverting concrete meant for civilian and humanitarian purposes toward the construction of tunnels. <\/p>\n
Hamas\u2019 critics also say that the group\u2019s massive expenditures on tunnels could have instead paid for civilian bomb shelters or early warning networks like those across the border in Israel. <\/p>\n
Tunnels have been an attractive tool of warfare since medieval times. Today they offer militant groups like Hamas an edge in asymmetric warfare, negating some of the technological advantages of a more advanced military like the IDF. <\/p>\n
What makes Hamas tunnels different from those of al Qaeda in the mountains of Afghanistan or the Viet Cong in the jungles of Southeast Asia is that it has constructed a subterranean network below one of the most densely populated areas on the planet. Nearly 2 million people live in the 88 square miles that make up Gaza City. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always difficult to deal with tunnels, don\u2019t get me wrong, in any context, even when they are in a mountainous area, but when they are urban area, then everything is more complicated \u2013 the tactical aspects, strategic aspects, the operational aspects, and of course, the protection that you want to ensure for the civilian population,\u201d said Richemond-Barak, who is also a senior fellow at the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare and the Modern War Institute at West Point. <\/p>\n
Since the October 7 terror attack in Israel in which at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed, the IDF has repeatedly alleged that Hamas is hiding inside these passages \u201cunderneath houses and inside buildings populated with innocent Gazan civilians,\u201d effectively turning them into human shields. Israeli military airstrikes have since killed at least 2,670 Palestinians, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement on Sunday. <\/p>\n
The IDF is expected to go after the network in its forthcoming ground incursion into Gaza, as it has in recent years gone to extreme lengths to eliminate Hamas\u2019 tunnels. Israel launched a ground assault on Gaza in 2014 to try and eliminate the underground passages. <\/p>\n
On Friday, Israel warned about 1.1 million living in Gaza to move south ahead of its likely operation, according to the United Nations. Critics said such an order was impossible to carry out on short notice in the middle of a war zone. The top UN human rights official said the evacuation call \u201cdefies the rules of war and basic humanity.\u201d <\/p>\n
Moving civilians out of Gaza City would help make it safer to eliminate tunnels, but such operations will be dangerous, Richemond-Barak said. <\/p>\n
The IDF can either render the tunnels temporarily unusable or destroy them. According to Richemond-Barak, bombing the underground passages is typically the most efficient way to eliminate them, but such strikes can impact civilians. <\/p>\n
What is clear is that technology alone won\u2019t be enough to stop the subterranean threat. <\/p>\n
Israel spent billions of dollars attempting to secure the border with a smart system that boasts advanced sensors and subterranean walls, yet Hamas was still able to launch its October 7 assault by land, air and sea. <\/p>\n
Richemond-Barak said a holistic approach is required, one that employs visual intelligence, border monitoring and even asking civilians to keep an eye out for anything suspect. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no foolproof solution to deal with a tunnel threat,\u201d Richemond-Barak said. \u201cThere\u2019s no Iron Dome for tunnels.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
The myriad tunnels under Gaza are best known as passageways used to smuggle goods from Egypt and launch attacks into Israel. But there exists a second underground network that the Israel Defense Forces colloquially refer to as the \u201cGaza metro.\u201d It\u2019s a vast labyrinth of tunnels, by some accounts several kilometers underground, used to transport <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":10054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}