Gaza Tunnels Pose Challenge to Israel in War on Hamas

Islamic Jihad fighters guard a Gaza tunnel in March. (Getty Images)
Islamic Jihad fighters guard a Gaza tunnel in March. (Getty Images)
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Gaza Tunnels Pose Challenge to Israel in War on Hamas

Islamic Jihad fighters guard a Gaza tunnel in March. (Getty Images)
Islamic Jihad fighters guard a Gaza tunnel in March. (Getty Images)

Exactly ten years ago in October 2012, Israel announced the discovery of the “first offensive tunnel” in the Gaza Strip. The tunnel stretched 800 meters, from Khan Younis to a hundred meters into Israeli territory, and was 20 meters deep underground and was two meters in width and height.

Israel did not find any weapons or explosives in the tunnel, with experts speculating that Hamas was using it to kidnap Israeli soldiers. A major Israeli military commander declared to Haaretz at the time: “We will make them regret this and we will push them to despair.”

The army destroyed the tunnel, as it did others it had previously discovered. The military even set up a unit dedicated to the destruction of tunnels. It included scientists whose task was to build electronic devices that can detect the underground passages.

Then commander of the Southern Command Yoav Gallant said: “It is a war of minds between us and Hamas. We are waging it for one sole purpose: victory.” Gallant is now defense minister, and the tunnels now extend far and wide in Gaza. He still speaks of “victory” and even of genocide.

In the past ten years, the Israeli army realized that it could not eliminate the tunnel phenomenon. Rather, the tunnels have since grown and become more developed. At first, they were built to allow Hamas fighters to counter Israeli ground attacks and ambush their troops.

They then used them to kidnap soldiers and succeeded in 2014. Two soldiers were kidnapped, and they are still held by Hamas. Israel then decided to build a massive wall, stretching 65 kilometers, above and below ground to prevent Hamas from building tunnels that can extend into Israeli territory. The wall cost Israel a billion dollars, but Hamas only needed to hire contractor for 200 dollars so he can drive bulldozer into the wall and destroy a portion of it.

The movement then expanded the tunnels deep into Gaza. It constructed a massive network that can only be compared to ones in North Korea. The Israelis have not ruled out the possibility that Pyongyang, not just Tehran, may have aided Hamas in the planning.

Furthermore, Hamas may have even benefited from Israeli expertise. In 1980, it had built a whole underground floor under al-Shifa hospital in Gaza when it was still occupying the enclave.

Underground fortress

Israel preoccupied itself in recent years in monitoring the expansion of the tunnels in Gaza and inside its own territories. To destroy some of the tunnels, it used a material that would expand and harden and use up all empty space, sealing off the tunnels.

Meanwhile, Hamas took its time in enlarging its network of tunnels in Gaza. The tunnels now total around 1,300, reaching around 70 meters underground and extending 500 kilometers. Jacob Nagel, former head of Israel's National Security Council, said the tunnels are probably even longer than that, extending thousands of kilometers.

The Israeli army has claimed that it has “detailed maps” of the tunnels and was preparing the right plans to turn them into “graveyards” for Hamas leaders, who in turn, have said that the tunnels have been heavily developed in the past two years. The technology there will shock the Israelis and turn them into a huge trap for its soldiers, they have warned.

The tunnels have become a major headline of the Gaza war. Hamas leaders and some 20,000 fighters are using the tunnels, which are like an underground fortress.

'Lower Gaza’

There isn’t exactly a life in the tunnels given how difficult it can be to live there. However, they are more than just long passageways that the word tunnel implies. Hamas has in fact built an actual city - “Lower Gaza” - under Gaza. Some people have spoken of two Gazas under the ground, meaning that there is actually a third Gaza below the underground city.

The network boasts rest areas, meeting rooms, and sleeping areas. It is fully equipped and features a modern ventilation system. It holds storage for food, medicine and fuel and has its own encrypted telecommunications system that Israel has failed in deciphering, as demonstrated in Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7.

Israel has weighed its option in how to destroy the tunnels. Experts said it could seal them off with a foam material that expands and hardens in empty spaces and could enlarge to several meters thick. It could use vacuum bombs to destroy them and kill everyone using them. Hamas has stated it is aware of the options at Israel’s disposal and its fighters are ready to defy it.



Father of Six Killed ‘For Piece of Bread’ During Gaza Aid Distribution

 Palestinians carry the body of Hossam Wafi who, according to family members, was killed in an Israeli strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry the body of Hossam Wafi who, according to family members, was killed in an Israeli strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)
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Father of Six Killed ‘For Piece of Bread’ During Gaza Aid Distribution

 Palestinians carry the body of Hossam Wafi who, according to family members, was killed in an Israeli strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry the body of Hossam Wafi who, according to family members, was killed in an Israeli strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)

Cries of grief echoed across southern Gaza's Nasser Hospital Monday as dozens came to mourn Hossam Wafi, after the father of six was killed while attempting to get supplies to feed his family.

His mother, Nahla Wafi, sobbed uncontrollably over her son, who was among 31 people killed by Israeli fire while trying to reach a food distribution site the previous day, according to the Palestinian territory's civil defense agency.

"He went to get food for his daughters and came back dead," said Nahla Wafi, who lost two sons and a nephew on Sunday.

Hossam Wafi had travelled with his brother and nephew to a newly established distribution center in the southern city of Rafah.

"They were just trying to buy (flour). But the drone came down on them," his mother said, as she tried to comfort four of her granddaughters in the courtyard of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Israel has faced growing condemnation over the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where the United Nations has warned the entire population faces the risk of famine.

-'Go there and get bombed'-

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that its field hospital in Rafah received 179 cases on Sunday, including 21 pronounced dead on arrival.

The ICRC said that all those wounded "said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site", and that "the majority suffered gunshot or shrapnel wounds".

Israeli authorities and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US and Israeli-backed outfit that runs the distribution centers, denied any such incident took place.

The military instead said that troops fired "warning shots" at people who approached them one kilometer away from the Rafah distribution site before dawn.

A witness told AFP thousands of people gathered at the area, known locally as the Al-Alam junction, between 2:00 and 4:00 am (2300 GMT and 0100 GMT) in the hopes of reaching the distribution center.

At Nasser Hospital, Hossam Wafi's young daughters called out for their father, kissing his body wrapped in a white shroud, before it was taken away.

Outside the hospital, dozens of men stood in silence before the body, praying. Some cried as the remains were taken away, one of them holding the father's face until he was gently pulled away.

His uncle, Ali Wafi, told AFP he felt angry his nephew was killed while trying to get aid.

"They go there and get bombed -- airstrikes, tanks, shelling -- all for a piece of bread," he said.

"He went for a bite of bread, not for anything else. What was he supposed to do? He had to feed his little kids. And the result? He's getting buried today," he added.

- Militarized aid -

The deaths in Rafah were one of two deadly incidents reported by Gaza's civil defense agency on Sunday around the GHF centers, which the UN says contravene basic humanitarian principles and appear designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

There have been several other reports of chaotic scenes and warning shots fired in connection with the distribution sites over the past week.

The UN's humanitarian agency (OCHA) published a video of one such distribution site in central Gaza's Netzarim corridor on Thursday.

A large crowd is seen gathered around four long corridors made from metal fences installed in the middle of an arid landscape, corralling men and women into files to receive flour.

The distribution site and its waiting area sit on a flattened piece of land surrounded by massive mounds of soil and sand.

It is manned by English-speaking security guards travelling in armored vehicles.

Palestinians exiting the distribution area carry cardboard boxes sometimes bearing a "GHF" logo, as well as wooden pallets presumably to be repurposed as fuel or structures for shelter.

In the large crowd gathered outside the gated corridors, some men are seen shoving each other, and one woman complains that her food package was stolen.

Hossam Wafi's uncle Ali said he wished Gaza's people could safely get aid.

"People take the risk (to reach the distribution site), just so they can survive."