Some describe them as ‘miniature cities’, others as a ‘spider’s web’ stretching beneath the Gaza Strip. Hamas tunnels are much more than that: a network of corridors, rooms and even roads that house weapons, fighters and command posts for the terrorist group that rules that Palestinian territory. These tunnels were the main target of Israeli bombing from Friday evening until yesterday, with 150 underground targets hit, according to the Israeli forces, as tanks and troops pushed into the Gaza Strip.
It is “Phase 2 of the war” that began on October 7 with the Hamas attack that killed more than 1,400 people in Israel, during which the terrorists kidnapped 229 people. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this at a press conference at the end of the day, after a meeting with relatives of the hostages. The head of the Israeli government defined two clear objectives: “to destroy Hamas’s military and government capabilities and to return the hostages.” Netanyahu admitted that a serious mistake had been made on the 7th, which will be investigated, assured that “the killers will pay the price for this massacre” and stated that the current conflict against Hamas “is Israel’s second war of independence. I am also convinced that winning is ‘my mission in life’.
In the first hours of this new phase the targets may have been underground, but the consequences of the surface bombardment were dramatic. Gaza woke up under a mountain of rubble. In the Shati refugee camp, on the outskirts of the city, residents interviewed by AFP assured that “what happened tonight was worse than an earthquake”.
According to the Hamas Health Ministry, Israeli attacks have killed more than 7,700 people, including 3,500 children. The day before, shortly before the bombing intensified, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari accused Hamas of placing fighters and weapons in hospitals and using civilians as “human shields.” With 2.3 million inhabitants in an area 40 by 10 km wide, the Gaza Strip has seen its humanitarian situation, already vulnerable due to the Israeli blockade, deteriorate since the start of the war. The several dozen aid trucks that were allowed to enter the area through the Rafah border crossing in Egypt are not sufficient to meet the needs of the population. There is a lack of water and food and the lack of fuel means that hospitals can no longer function, while the latest bombings left the population without communications yesterday.
After several short raids by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, the day started yesterday with tanks and troops in the area. And late in the afternoon, an Israeli military statement confirmed that “a combined force of tanks, engineers and infantry has been operating on the ground in the north of the Gaza Strip since Friday evening.” “The ground was shaking in Gaza,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had earlier assured, explaining to journalists that the war in the Palestinian enclave had moved to “the next phase.” “We are attacking above ground and underground. (…) The instructions for the armed forces are clear. The campaign will continue until further notice,” he said.
This appears to be another step toward the much-discussed ground offensive that both Netanyahu and Gallant have warned will be long and difficult. “It will take a long time” to dismantle Hamas’ vast network of tunnels, the minister said, adding that he expects a long phase of lower-intensity fighting as Israel destroys “hotbeds of resistance.”
In addition to pressure from the international community, especially from US President Joe Biden, the network of tunnels under the Gaza Strip has been one of the reasons for the postponement of the large-scale Israeli invasion of the territory.
And if tunnels have long been part of the daily lives of those living in Gaza, since 2007, when Hamas took control of the area following its victory in last year’s elections and the ouster of Fatah after a brief civil war, in the In recent years they have multiplied. And they became more advanced. This week, Israeli forces announced that they had reached a tunnel allowing Hamas to infiltrate Israel “by sea,” with the beach as its exit.
According to authorities, for a long time it was mainly used to bring food, people and weapons to the area The New York TimesAccording to an Israeli military source, each Hamas tunnel now costs an average of $3 million. Some are made of concrete and iron and even have rooms where fighters from the Palestinian group can receive medical treatment. Others have chambers at depths of up to 40 meters where dozens of people can hide for months. A reality that Yocheved Lifshitz, the 85-year-old Israeli released this week after being held hostage by Hamas for 17 days, described, talking about walking through miles of damp underground passageways until he “reached a large hall where 25 other hostages goods”. A real ‘spider web’.
In several cities – from London to Copenhagen, from Berlin to Istanbul (where President Recep Erdogan accused Israel of war crimes and declared that Hamas is not a terrorist group) – yesterday was a day of protests in support of the Palestinian people. At the diplomatic level, efforts remained focused on reaching an agreement on a pause in hostilities. Days after Israel’s harsh criticism, António Guterres condemned the “unprecedented” escalation in Gaza. The UN Secretary General again called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”.
But as the Israeli army again dropped leaflets on Gaza calling on the population to move south “immediately” as the city and its surroundings are “a battlefield,” the military wing of the Palestinian movement declared on Hamas’s side to be willing to release the hostages it kidnapped on October 7, but in return for the release of all Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. Spokesperson Abu Obeida, quoted by Haaretzalso assured that he is not afraid of a land invasion by Israel: “We are prepared and we tell the enemy that we are waiting for him.”
Source: DN
