![]() 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. 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. Tunnels have been an attractive tool of warfare since medieval times. Hamas’ critics also say that the group’s massive expenditures on tunnels could have instead paid for civilian bomb shelters or early warning networks like those across the border in Israel. Israel has long accused Hamas of diverting concrete meant for civilian and humanitarian purposes toward the construction of tunnels. Experts say that diggers using basic tools likely burrowed deep underground to dig the network, which is wired with electricity and reinforced by concrete. ![]() 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. The figure is likely significant, both in terms of manpower and capital.Īn Israeli commander tours Hamas and Islamic Jihad tunnels in February 2018. It’s unclear how much the tunnel network would have cost Hamas, which governs the impoverished coastal strip. “It’s a very intricate, very large – huge – network of tunnels on a rather small piece of territory,” said Daphne Richemond-Barak, a professor at Israel’s Reichman University and expert on underground warfare. If true, Hamas’ underground tunnels would be a little less than half the length of the New York City subway system. ![]() 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. The myriad tunnels under Gaza are best known as passageways used to smuggle goods from Egypt and launch attacks into Israel.īut there exists a second underground network that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) colloquially refer to as the “Gaza metro.” It’s 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’s aircraft and surveillance drones.
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