Using Radios to Reach Hostages: Israel’s Mission into Gaza Tunnels

2024-01-23 07:02:34

Israel is trying to penetrate the Gaza tunnels with AM radio waves to reassure the hostages

After controlling a tunnel belonging to the Hamas movement in the northern Gaza Strip, a group of Israeli soldiers descended into the tunnel carrying some exceptional equipment in their hands. This equipment was not explosives, robotic sensors, or handguns for close combat, but rather old-fashioned radios with a dial to move the cursor on the stations.

Their mission was to descend until the devices were no longer able to receive radio signals from Israel. They found that this point was at a depth of between 10 and 12 meters, which is generally the upper “floors” of the Palestinian militants’ tunnel network.

The experiment was conducted on January 4 at the request of Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Qarai, who had just expanded the country’s most popular army radio, which broadcasts on short waves (FM), to broadcast its programs on medium waves (AM). .

The wider reach of AM waves means that emergency updates have a better chance of being heard by civilians in shelters. Troops in Gaza will also benefit, as they are given transistor radios to stay informed while being asked to hand over their cell phones for fear that Hamas will determine their geographical location.

Testing radio frequency waves in the tunnels opens another window of hope for a country worried regarding 132 people being held by Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip.

This sparkle is the possibility of delivering messages prepared by the army to raise morale.

“It suddenly occurred to me that some of these hostages might have had access to transistor radios,” Qarai told Archyde.com. “If they had the means to hear their families’ voices, that would be of great value in terms of morale… and for their relatives as well.”

This maneuver is likely to require Hamas’ cooperation, a possibility that the initiators hope will be within the limits of possibility.

It was not immediately possible to contact Hamas officials in Gaza to comment on the idea, as evidence of the destruction of Palestinian infrastructure in the Israeli attack, as well as their reluctance to publish information regarding the conditions of the hostages.

Access to televisions and radios

Among the dozens of hostages released in the November truce, a number said that their kidnappers allowed them limited access to television or radio sets.

One of the hostages learned from the radio that her husband and daughter, from whom she was separated following the October 7 attack that sparked the war, were still alive. For another hostage, the Israeli broadcast was the first notification that two of her relatives were among the dead.

But the accounts did not clarify whether the hostages were in a place directly under the surface, or in tunnels that did not reach radio waves, or in safe houses above ground that received radio waves regularly. The tunnels that advanced Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip showed to journalists sometimes included tunnels regarding 10 meters deep.

Asked to respond to the Army Radio initiative, former hostage Nellie Margalit said that part of her captivity was spent 40 meters underground. She told Archyde.com that it was “very profound,” and she refused to discuss the matter further for fear that “terrorists would use my words to harm the prisoners who are still there.”

Dan O’Shea, a former US Navy SEAL and former hostage coordinator for US forces in Iraq, said that although he fully agrees with the AM Radio initiative, he sees little chance for Hamas’ cooperation while Israel continues search and rescue operations in Gaza.

He said: “If (Hamas) knows that these devices might be captured by Israeli forces, this is the last thing they want…”

Transistor AM radios, which are designed to passively receive broadcasts, cannot be easily tracked, said Peter Duvitt-Smith, honorary lecturer in astrophysics at the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory. But he did not rule it out.

He added that most of these devices use oscillators that emit weak signals, “and it is possible to detect them remotely using specialized devices.” “These signals weaken rapidly with increasing distance, especially across the Earth.”

In response to a question regarding whether Israel might conduct such operations to determine locations, Danny Zaken, director of Army Radio, said: “We cannot. It (the broadcast received by the radio) does not return. “I mean, it’s not like sonar…it’s only in one direction, unfortunately.”

Dispel despair

Qarai said that he knew that neither Israel nor Hamas might track negative reception of AM waves. Hence the permission for the forces in Gaza to use transistor radios.

Warding off despair or rebellion among hostages may prompt kidnappers to consider risking the use of radios.

But Ruth Bat Horenczyk, a professor of clinical psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said that if Hamas felt this would weaken its control over the prisoners, it would prevent them from listening.

The army radio’s switch to AM is supported by the Defense Ministry’s National Emergency Management Authority and Israel’s largest telecommunications company, Bezeq. The station pre-records messages from the hostages’ families for broadcast several times a day.

“They’re telling them…hold on to your strength,” Zaken said. We are fighting for you. do not worry. We will reach you. Hold on to your strength.”

At a rally in Tel Aviv to mark the first birthday of Kfir Bibas, the youngest of the hostages, an Army Radio correspondent approached Yossi Schneider, a relative of the child, and explained the new range of radio wave access and asked to record an interview.

“If they are listening to us… we want to tell you that your parents love you, and no one has forgotten you,” Schneider said.

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