Tel Aviv: Israel is using special weapons in an effort to destroy some of the tunnels the Hamas terror organisation has built under Gaza. Some of these weapon systems have been developed in Israel, while others have been rushed to Israel by the US in recent days when Israel is getting ready to a massive ground operation in Gaza. The special weapons are being used after the heavy bombing of Hamas targets in Gaza city.
On Friday, October 27 night, the Israeli air force and other units destroyed at least 150 entrance points to the web of Hamas tunnels (Metro City) in Gaza. In earlier operations some years ago in Gaza, the IDF used sea water to flood some of the tunnels. But since then the web of tunnels has become much bigger.
In recent days, there were reports about Israel using “sponge bombs” to seal the entrances to the tunnels but that was not confirmed. At the same time, the Israeli air force (IAF) has intensified its attacks on the tunnels using intelligence received by the interrogation of Hamas members that took part in the massacre on October 7 and surrendered after fighting with the IDF.
This underground web of tunnels is referred to by the IDF as “Metro City” and is used mainly by the Hamas leadership that the IDF has been trying to kill since the beginning of the war. These tunnels are also used to move people and supplies, store rockets and ammunition depots, and house Hamas command and control centres—all out of the way of IDF surveillance and armed drones and aircraft.
The standard bombs used by the Israeli air force are not capable of destroying the tunnels. In recent days, the air dropped bombs hit some of the entrance points to some of the tunnels but according to Israeli sources that is not enough. No details have been available on the special weapons but sources say that they create underground shock waves that are aimed at causing damage to the tunnels.
Israeli sources confirmed that as the war continues, some Israeli developed weapon systems have been put in service for the first time. These, according to the sources include ground- ground rockets and new weapons carried by the armed drones.
John Spencer, head of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern Warfare Institute at the United States Military Academy at West Point, said that the scale of the challenge in Gaza with underground tunnels is unique. In an article published a few days ago, Spencer, a former officer in the US Army, added that the network of tunnels is a problem that “does not have a perfect solution and is waiting for the Israeli ground forces.”
According to estimates, the tunnel network includes 1,300 tunnels with a length of about 500 km, with some of the tunnels being at a depth of up to 70 metres below the surface of the ground.
According to reports, most of these tunnels are only two metres high and two metres wide. Experts estimate that it is possible that the 229 hostages that Hamas took during the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 are inside these tunnels.
Researchers who have previously studied Hamas’ tunnel network believe that some of the organisation’s leaders are hiding inside these tunnels. Experts say that the tunnels will further complicate the combat scenario in the event of an Israeli ground invasion of the Strip, and Spencer said that they allow “fighters to move between a variety of different combat sites safely. And freely.”
Mike Martin, a war psychologist at King’s College London, said: “In short, these tunnels balance by neutralising Israel’s advantages in weaponry, tactics, technology and organisation, as well as the risk of not being able to distinguish between military and civilian objectives to be pursued according to international law. Therefore, the IDF faces problems when it comes to military operations inside civilian areas, which can be defined as three-dimensional warfare.”
He explained what he meant by three-dimensional warfare, saying: “There will be elements that will shoot above the residential towers and there will be elements that will shoot underground. If a building is destroyed , it will become a pile of rubble, which will then become very destructive, in the sense of a place from which it is easy for any armed person to defend and shoot. Fighting in cities is one of the most difficult areas any army can face.”
Over time and due to the increase in Israeli aerial surveillance using drones and other electronic spy equipment in the Strip, Hamas began to expand the network of tunnels, but the IDF discovered the danger and complexity of these tunnels only after the military operation in Gaza in 2014. As a result, the Israeli government began to build an underground border barrier along the border of the Gaza Strip to prevent infiltration into Israel through tunnels.
Experts say that it is difficult to locate the tunnels because they may be built under various structures, but there are various ways to detect them, such as using radar and magnetic, thermal and acoustic fingerprinting techniques.
The underground challenge in Gaza is not represented only by the tunnels. The IDF disclosed on October 27 what it claimed to be intelligence indicating the location of a Hamas command centre beneath Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital.
The largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, Shifa Hospital, is home to Hamas’ main operational headquarters, according to a presentation made by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on October 27.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari claimed that Hamas operated many subterranean bases beneath Shifa from where the terrorists launched strikes against Israel. “After the October 7 massacres, we have hard proof that hundreds of terrorists flooded into the hospital to hide,” he added.
