Around 560 to 720 kilometers
The extent of the tunnel network in Gaza surprises Israel
January 16, 2024, 8:18 p.m
The network of tunnels under the Gaza Strip appears to be much longer than expected. Israel originally assumed a length of 400 kilometers. According to a media report, the number now needs to be corrected significantly. The scope, depth and quality of the system make victory difficult.
According to a US media report, the Islamist Hamas tunnel network in the Gaza Strip may be longer than Israel previously assumed. It is estimated to be around 560 to 720 kilometers long, reported the “New York Times” citing senior Israeli defense officials. According to the report, as recently as December, Israeli estimates assumed that the tunnel system under the Palestinian territory was around 400 kilometers long. The numbers cannot currently be independently verified.
The Gaza Strip itself is around 45 kilometers long and between six and 14 kilometers wide. It is hardly bigger than Munich. For comparison: the subway network in the Bavarian capital covers a distance of 95 kilometers. The extent, depth and quality of the tunnels surprised Israeli soldiers and government officials, the New York Times report continued. There are also around 5,700 separate shafts that lead to the underground passages. Accordingly, there could be around 240 kilometers of tunnels beneath the city of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip alone. The Israeli army is said to have found documents such as maps in the Gaza Strip that they can use to locate the tunnels and their entrances.
The Israeli military had previously made public and documented through videos that a tunnel in Gaza was so wide that a high-ranking Hamas official could drive his car into it. Another tunnel stretched across almost three football fields and was hidden under a hospital. The Israeli military found a spiral staircase under the house of a high-ranking Hamas commander that led to a tunnel about seven stories deep.
Tunnels make Israel’s victory against Hamas difficult
According to the army, Israeli soldiers have destroyed many kilometers of underground routes in recent months. Observers assume that the Hamas leadership is hiding in the tunnels and is probably surrounding itself with the hostages kidnapped from Israel in the massacre on October 7th. It is therefore difficult to defeat Hamas. The destruction of the exposed tunnels would also take longer than the planned schedule for the military operation, according to a report by iIsraeli daily newspaper “Haaretz”.
Among other things, the Israeli army said it had discovered a large underground weapons factory in the Gaza Strip. The terrorist organization manufactured and stored long-range missiles there, among other things. The production facility will be connected to a 30 meter deep tunnel system. Some of the tunnel shafts containing rockets and grenades in Bureij in the center of the Gaza Strip are 30 meters deep, the army said. The tunnels are part of a network that connects Hamas fighters throughout the Gaza Strip. Army representatives also showed journalists numerous weapons factories and tunnels in the Palestinian territory that Hamas used for military purposes.