Israel’s military has begun flooding Hamas’ tunnel network as intense fighting rages in Gaza, with the UN warning of a potential “collapse of the humanitarian system” in the territory after a funding dispute hit its Palestinian aid agency.
The epicenter of the fighting in recent weeks has been Khan Yunis, the southern capital of Gaza, where vast areas have been reduced to a muddy wasteland of bombed-out buildings, and where an AFP reporter witnessed people fleeing the city on Tuesday as explosions rang out nearby.
“We left Nasser’s hospital without a mattress, under tank and air attacks. We didn’t know where to go,” said one young woman.
“We are outside in the cold, left to ourselves, without a tent or anything to survive,” she said.
Elsewhere in the city, Israeli soldiers showed reporters a tunnel they said was used as a Hamas command center.
“Every war has its own characteristics, and I think that this war, its basic character, is that maneuver above and below the ground,” Dan Goldfus, commander of the 98th Parachute Division, told reporters in front of the shaft.
“I think the enemy is on the run and is trying to get under civilians as much as he can,” he added.
The Israeli military, which has dubbed the vast network of tunnels the “Gaza Metro,” said on Tuesday it had begun flooding the underground complex with water in an attempt to “neutralize the threat of Hamas’ underground network.”
Namely, as reported by the New York Times, Hamas members dug tunnels to be a war hideout. According to December calculations, the Israelis thought the tunnels covered a total of 400 square kilometers, however, they now believe they could be twice as large.
One of the tunnels is wide enough to drive a car through. The second one is as long as three football fields and is located under the hospital.
Under the house of one of the senior commanders of Hamas, the Israelis found a spiral staircase leading to a compound seven floors deep. Some of the tunnels discovered even had elevators.
“Hamas has used the last 15 years to turn Gaza into a fortress,” said Aaron Greenstone, a former CIA agent who worked in the Middle East. The tunnels are a key asset for the survival of Hamas fighters. The Israelis stated that they found two types of tunnels, those inhabited by commanders and those used by operatives.
The tunnels for commanders are wider and much more comfortable. It initially took the Israelis a year of searching to locate the entrance to one of these tunnels. In the documents they seized during the conflict, they found a list of households where the entrances to the tunnels were hidden, which significantly accelerated the process of discovering the tunnels.
According to the Times, the goal of the Israelis is to destroy the Hamas labyrinth. One soldier claims to have overseen the destruction of as many as 50 of these tunnels in Beit Hanoun. He claims that traps were set in all of them that would cause a huge explosion, and collapse the tunnels on the Israelis. The members of the unit to which this eyewitness belongs were military engineers and they successfully deactivated the deadly devices.
Hamas has improved its ability to conceal entry into tunnels, often hiding them under hospitals, schools and mosques. Israel continues to be persistent in uncovering them and does not let up in the destruction.
