Hamas’ Underground Terror Network Presents Challenge for IDF Ground Invasion

An IDF soldier reacts and covers his face before removing the body of a civilian killed days earlier in an attack by Hamas militants on October 10, 2023 in Kfar Aza, Israel. Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

The terrorist group Hamas has built hundreds of miles of maze-like underground tunnels in the Gaza Strip, which are expected to pose a challenge to the Israeli army’s ground invasion. However, some military experts believe that Israel can crack the Hamas tunnel warfare with its absolute military dominance.

Hamas launched a brutal terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which left over 1,400 Israelis dead and around 200 captured as hostages. This led to the Israel Defence Forces’ (IDF) bombing of Gaza in an attempt to destroy Hamas’ military infrastructure. The IDF issued a notice on Oct. 13, asking 1.1 million Palestinians in the northern part of the Gaza Strip to evacuate to the south within 24 hours.

IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said in a video on X on Oct. 12 that the Gaza Strip has two layers, one for civilians and the other for Hamas. The tunnels are the underground layer of Gaza that is a part of the Hamas terrorists’ infrastructure, and they are the target of the IDF. Those underground structures are not used by civilians as a bunker, but instead, Hamas use it to transport weapons and terrorists across the Gaza Strip. In terms of its massive size, Israel has dubbed it the “Gaza Metro” since it stretches underneath a strip of land that is only 25 miles long and 7 miles wide.

After the 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis, the IDF said that they destroyed more than 62 miles of tunnels through air strikes. However, Hamas claimed that only 5 percent of its massive 310-mile tunnel network was hit.

The IDF says, on its official website, that Hamas’ tunnel network is actually a vast underground city with dozens of access points throughout Gaza. The tunnels are used by Hamas as weapons caches, command centers, and hidden transportation routes for terrorists, various weapons, and rocket launchers. Some of these tunnels led directly from Gaza to Israeli communities near the border, which led to the recent infiltration and brutal attack on Israeli civilians.

The IDF also says that Hamas has invested millions of dollars and resources to build and operate its vast network of tunnels. Every month, Israel sends construction materials to Gaza for civilian projects, which are often seized by Hamas for tunnel construction. Since January 2014, 181,000 tons of gravel, iron, cement, wood, and other materials have entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

“It (Hamas) could have built infrastructure to improve the quality of life for Gaza’s residents. Instead, it chose to expand its underground terrorist network,” said the IDF.

Military Expert: Israel Can Strike Hamas in Four Steps

Chang Yen-ting, a former deputy commander of Taiwan’s Air Force and an adjunct professor of political science at Taiwan’s National Defense University Political Warfare College, said that Israel could take four steps to fight Hamas’ tunnel warfare.

In an interview with The Epoch Times on Oct. 15, Mr. Chang said that the Israeli army could carry out a four-step ground assault: first, it should start with demolition, blowing up the iron gates at the tunnel entry points; then it can use flamethrowers to blow directly into the interior since fire bends in the tunnels and bullets do not; third, it can raid the tunnels one by one; and finally, it can occupy the entire region by eliminating tunnel access for the enemies. This could lead to a total reclamation of the Gaza Strip by the IDF.

Mr. Chang said: “Israel’s military power has an absolute advantage over that of the Hamas terrorists since Hamas is largely a guerrilla force with 30,000 fighters. Israel just mobilized 360,000 reservists, plus nearly 170,000 on active duty. Some of its forces are deployed to the northern border and the Golan Heights to defend against Hezbollah and Syrian attacks, but most of its forces are now aimed at Hamas. Hamas is turning towards tunnel warfare since it is their final line of defense against a highly modern and advanced IDF.”

Mr. Chang further suggested that as Israel proceeds with the ground offensive, there may be some risks in the rest of the world. For instance, pro-Hamas demonstrations on college campuses and streets in the U.S. and Europe have broken out, and the possibility that Jews around the world could be targeted for retaliation cannot be ignored.

Gaza’s Complex and Clandestine Tunnel Network

Gaza’s tunnels were built before the Israeli withdrawal in 2005 and were originally used to smuggle goods in and out of Egypt to circumvent the Israeli blockade. In 2007, after Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip in a coup d’etat, Israel and Egypt began restricting the movement of goods and people due to security concerns.

In 2007, Gaza’s tunnel traffic was at its peak. Nearly 2,500 tunnels under the Egyptian border were used by Hamas and other terrorist organizations to smuggle goods, fuel, and weapons. Israel and Egypt then installed a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, and the IDF conducted occasional precision strikes to target Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure. Although Egypt closed the border between Egypt and Gaza, the smuggling tunnels continued to operate.

Between 2009 and 2013, Gaza residents were able to order various goods, including even KFC, over the phone, which were then sent through the tunnels from Egypt to Gaza. Many joined the smuggling business due to profit. At that time, jeans that cost US$11 in Egypt could be sold for US$33 in Gaza.

Ever since the Egyptian military overthrew Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi as the country’s president, relations between the Egyptian government and the Hamas regime in Gaza have deteriorated significantly, leading to the blockade of many smuggling tunnels.

There is another type of tunnel in Gaza, which was earlier constructed mainly by the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas, for military purposes. These tunnels were used by Hamas to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip.

While ordinary residents in Gaza needed bread and clothes, Hamas was solely focused on buying weaponry and expanding its military capabilities. The tunnels provided critical support for Hamas to maintain its rule in the Gaza Strip since Hamas essentially controlled all supplies going into Gaza.

The Gazan tunnels are complex and tightly run, and their use is coordinated among all the armed factions of the terrorist group. Each tunnel is allegedly manned by only one person, whose name is kept strictly confidential. The tunnels are divided into four areas - north, central, south, and Gaza City. Each of these areas is under the command of one commander. As a result, only those involved in constructing the tunnels and the four commanders were privy to the various details and layouts of the Gazan tunnels.

Before digging a tunnel, each terrorist faction must consult with the commander in that area. Most tunnels were dug by hand at night and usually took about four months to complete. Some of the tunnels were hundreds of miles long and cost a lot of money. When digging tunnels to the Gaza border area, the Hamas terrorists would contact the landowners to inform them that all underground facilities are owned and used by the military factions and that no one else is allowed to enter without authorization. As a result, some landowners in the border area are aware of the existence of the tunnels but do not know their exact routes.

Xin Ning contributed to this report.