Space for small vehicles
Israel’s army tracks down longest terror tunnel to date
December 17, 2023, 8:48 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
Almost four kilometers long and built with heavy equipment: the Israeli military discovered Hamas’ longest tunnel to date in the north of the Gaza Strip. The terrorist organization is said to have invested large resources there, we are talking about several million US dollars.
The Israeli army says it has uncovered Hamas’ largest tunnel to date in the Gaza Strip. It is located just a few hundred meters from the important Erez border crossing and is large enough to accommodate small vehicles.
The Israeli army said the tunnel was part of a larger, branched network that was four kilometers long and came within 400 meters of the Erez border crossing. The construction of the tunnel cost millions of US dollars and took several years, it said. The project leader was Mohamed Jahja, brother of Hamas leader Jahja Sinwar, who is said to be one of the masterminds of the major Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th.
The corridors have sewerage, electricity, ventilation, sewage disposal and a communication network as well as rails. The floor is made of compacted earth, the walls are made of reinforced concrete and the entrance consists of a metal cylinder with walls one and a half centimeters thick.
Built with heavy equipment
Footage released by the Israeli army, said to have been filmed by Hamas, shows a small construction vehicle being driven into the tunnel, a sprawling makeshift warehouse with precast concrete to reinforce the walls, and construction workers carrying heavy equipment dig the earth. The Israeli army said it found numerous weapons in the tunnel that were ready for an attack.
Hamas has invested large resources in the project, said army spokesman Richard Hecht. They did this “only for one purpose,” to “attack the State of Israel and its residents,” he said. The tunnel was deliberately built near the Erez crossing in the north of the Gaza Strip, said Hecht. Israel uses this to control Palestinian workers and other travelers who need medical attention in Israel. “For Hamas, attacks on the people of Israel continue to have priority over the people of Gaza,” said Hecht.
The war between Israel and Hamas has now been going on for ten weeks. Hundreds of fighters from Hamas, which the EU and the USA classify as a terrorist organization, entered Israeli towns on October 7th and committed atrocities against civilians there. According to Israeli information, around 1,140 people were killed and around 250 people were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.
Flood tunnels with water?
The labyrinth of tunnels, called “Gaza Metro” by the Israeli army, was originally built to bypass the Israeli-Egyptian blockade after Hamas came to power in the Gaza Strip in 2007. Hundreds of tunnels were built to the Egyptian Sinai, through which people, goods and also weapons reached the Gaza Strip.
Since the war with Israel in 2014, the tunnel system has been expanded and Hamas has repeatedly used it in its rocket attacks. According to a study by the US Military Academy West Point, there are 1,300 tunnels with a total length of more than 500 kilometers. In early December, the Israeli army said it had discovered more than 800 tunnels and destroyed 500 of them. Israeli media recently reported that the army was considering flooding the tunnels with water from the Mediterranean and had already conducted successful tests.