2023-10-21 04:53:43
Tunnels built by the militant group are likely Hamasbe one of the biggest challenges for the Israeli army if it decides to launch a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and other countries, probably has the largest network of tunnels in the world outside of North Korea’s underground facilities.
“The scale of the challenge in Gaza, where hundreds of kilometers of tunnels crisscross underground in the enclave, is wholly unique,” John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, which forms part of the United States Military Academy West Point. “This sprawling underground complex is the wicked problem, for which there is no perfect solution, awaiting Israeli ground forces.”
It is estimated that the network of regarding 1,300 tunnels has a total length of regarding 500 kilometers and that some reach 70 meters deep. Reports suggest that most of the tunnels are only two meters high and two meters wide.
According to experts, it is likely that the nearly 200 hostages that Hamas took following theOctober 7 terrorist attacks In Israel. In the tunnels there are also allegedly caches of weapons, food, water, generators, fuel and other equipment. Researchers who have studied the tunnels believe that Hamas leaders are most likely also in these underground passages.
Finding the Hamas tunnels
Initially, the tunnels in this area were used to smuggle goods between Gaza and Egypt and, later, between Gaza and Israel. Over time, due to increased Israeli aerial surveillance with drones and other electronic spying equipment in Gaza, Hamas began investing manpower and money into expanding the tunnel network.
But it wasn’t until a military operation in Gaza in 2014 that the Israeli army discovered the true extent of Hamas’ tunnels. After that, the Israeli government began developing a barrier along the Gaza border that extended underground to prevent tunnel access to the Israeli side.
The tunnels were originally used to smuggle goods into Gaza from Egypt, following the blockade of the area. Image: AP
It is not easy to locate the tunnels, which can be under buildings of all types. Still, there are several ways to do this, such as using radar and other detection techniques that measure thermal, magnetic and acoustic patterns.
More often than not, however, underground passages tend to be found by the work of human detectives, as the Rand think tank reported in a 2017 research report on the topic. That is, by soldiers on patrol, or when, for example, the telephone signal of a tracked Hamas operative suddenly disappears when entering an underground location.
Underground combat
In the past, tear gas or chemical agents have been used to clear tunnels, as explained in her book “Underground Warfare” by one of the world’s leading experts in this field, Daphne Richemond-Barak. But these “would probably be considered illegal today,” she writes.
It is also possible to bomb tunnels, and Israel has what are known as “bunker buster” bombs that can penetrate deep underground. However, at only regarding 40 kilometers long by between 6 and 14 kilometers wide, and with a population of 2.2 million people blockaded there by Israel since 2007, the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. world. Therefore, even if the Israeli military knew where the tunnels were, the situation on the ground would make that type of bombing extremely difficult, if not impossible.
Also, it’s not easy to fight in the tunnels. Underground is darker and much colder, sounds, such as gunshots, are amplified, and the use of weapons also raises dust. Additionally, tunnels can easily be booby traps. In fact, in the past, Israeli soldiers were not allowed to enter tunnels until they had been secured by specialist teams.
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Chances of success?
West Point’s John Spencer, one of the founders of the International Underground Warfare Task Force, noted that he had never seen any other military force do as much preparatory work on tunnel warfare as the Israeli military.
However, Richemond-Barak, another founder of the International Working Group on Underground Warfare, has expressed concern. “Israel would need to undertake a prolonged and extensive air and ground operation to degrade this underground infrastructure,” she wrote in an article for the British newspaper the Financial Times this month.
The Israeli military might collapse, flood or otherwise destroy the tunnels and seal them, but this would be very difficult, especially while under fire in the urban environment, and might take months. “Even in such a scenario, which would have an unthinkable human cost, it is unlikely that the entire Gaza tunnel network would be destroyed,” said the underground warfare expert.
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