“City of Terror Underground”: The Reality of Hamas Tunnels

Israeli officials have described Hamas’ tunnels in the Gaza Strip as a “spider web,” elusive to the Israeli army, which has been unable to control them despite more than nine months since the war, according to a report published by Israel’s Channel 12 on Saturday, July 27, 2024.

The Israeli channel quoted a well-informed Israeli security official saying, “It is like a spider web; if you cut one tunnel, alternative tunnels will automatically appear and it can continue like this.”

Another expert pointed out that the tunnels are “like veins that carry the system, with blood flowing through them.” According to the Israeli channel, even after nine months of war, the Israeli army knows that it does not know everything about the vast tunnel project, or the “city of terror underground.”

Engaging in an organized defensive battle from underground

The channel quoted another security official saying, “So far, we do not know the full picture (of the tunnels), and we do not have a firm and absolute grip on the entire tunnel project because if we did, we would have eliminated Hamas’ superiority in this field.”

During the Vietnam War, fighters dug tunnels that caused many casualties among the American army by using combat techniques such as ambushes or working from bunkers. Now, 60 years later, this “low-tech” technology is coming back to the forefront, according to Channel 12.

An Israeli officer specialized in countering tunnels in Gaza said, “At the start of the ground maneuver (the ground invasion of the sector on October 27, 2023), the Israeli army encountered Hamas’ capability in Gaza to engage in an organized defensive battle from underground.”

He explained, “We were surprised by Hamas’ engineering capabilities like elevators and understanding of the soil and how the tunnels are interconnected,” adding, “If we focused on destroying all the tunnels in Gaza, it would take many more years.”