IDF assesses much of Hamas tunnel network still in ‘good functional state’ – report
Military said to believe Hamas retains limited ability to approach, possibly cross border; civil security heads disturbed, want destruction of tunnels to be top priority
The Times of Israel
Jul 8, 2024
A handout image released on April 7, 2024, shows a 900-meter-long tunnel uncovered by the IDF in the al-Amal neighborhood of Khan Younis, along with weapons discovered inside.
After nine months of war, much of Hamas’s tunnel network is still in a “good functional state” in many parts of Gaza, and the terror group still has the capacity to organize raids close to the border with Israel and possibly even across it, Hebrew media reported Monday.
The Hamas tunnels are in good shape in the refugee camps of central Gaza, most of Rafah in the south, and Shejaiya in the north, according to Channel 12 news, which cited what it said was a recently written IDF assessment.
In Khan Younis, in the south of the Strip, many tunnels that were targeted by the IDF have been fixed, as have the factories in the area that produce concrete to build the tunnels, the report said.
Even though the IDF has been focused on tackling Hamas in Rafah in recent weeks, functional tunnels in the area enable terror operatives to get close to the Israeli border, and only a few routes have been destroyed on the Philadelphi Route, along the Gaza-Egypt border, according to the report.
Tunnels in Gaza City are in a medium to good state, and enable Hamas to gain proximity to the Israeli border, it added.
Overall, were the war to end now, the report said, “Hamas still has the capacity to organize an incursion close to the border and perhaps even across it, [albeit] not on the scale of the past.”
The report noted that the IDF remains heavily focused on tackling the Hamas tunnel network, and is gradually destroying it, including near the border. However, the report said that the heads of the civil defense squads for communities along the border who have read the document are troubled by its findings, and want the work of neutralizing the tunnels done as a first priority.
The civil defense squads were among the first to respond to Hamas’s October 7 massacre, and many fought for hours to defend their communities alone before security forces could muster a response.
Nonetheless, the report noted that military chiefs, “given the achievements to date” in the war, still said that if a deal can be negotiated with Hamas, “it is right to stop now to get back the hostages.”
Since launching a ground offensive in the wake of the October 7 massacre — in which Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took around 251 hostages — Israeli forces have worked to destroy the tunnels, uncovering more and more of the Gaza-ruling terror organization’s underground network.
Senior Israeli defense officials in January assessed that Hamas’s Gaza tunnel network was between 350 and 450 miles long, an astounding figure given that the enclave is only some 140 square miles in total size.
A defense official told The Times of Israel that it could take years to dismantle the tunnels, noting that underground passages must be mapped and checked for booby traps and hostages before Israeli forces can destroy them.
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