War in the Middle East: A look into the tunnels of the Gaza Strip

Near the border, Israel’s army offers journalists a look into a tunnel under the Gaza Strip. He is part of an entire system of the militant Islamist Hamas. The price of destroying all of this is high.

What was once a heavily guarded border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip is now a war zone. Machine guns can be heard in the distance and tanks are on the move. On October 7th, here – northeast of Gaza City – the terrorists from Hamas and other organizations attacked Israel, destroyed the border facilities, killed people and took hostages. But that’s not just what the Israeli armed forces want to show today – it’s about something else.

“We must understand that this tunnel network of terror is the reason there is so much destruction in the Gaza Strip,” said Doron Spielman, an army spokesman. “They built these tunnels right under homes. With terrorists, with rockets and grenades.” To get tunnels they would have put the homes above in great danger. “That’s why we want people to understand what’s happening.”

Network should cover hundreds of kilometers

But there are no residential buildings here, but behind large piles of sand there is a large hole leading into the abyss. Excavators from the Israeli army tore it up. According to Israeli information, tunnels like this exist everywhere in the Gaza Strip. The network is said to be hundreds of kilometers long.

“This is the belly button, the heart. The heart of Hamas is in these underground tunnels.” This is how they lived, this is where they hid, this is how they communicated, moved from one place to another and stored their ammunition, Spielman lists. Capturing and destroying the tunnels is the key to destroying Hamas.

It only goes in a few meters, just enough to give you an idea. This is a solid, large tube. Several can run comfortably next to each other. There are power cables – and it goes down. Arye Shalicar, a German-speaking spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces, describes the scene.

300 to 400 meters to the border

“We are in a Hamas tunnel, about 300 to 400 meters from the border with Israel,” said Shalicar. “We’ve walked over there now. This is one of the largest tunnels we’ve discovered so far.” It is about 50 meters deep, four kilometers wide – “and of course positioned in the northern Gaza Strip. Especially on the border with Israel, so that this tunnel can of course be used in an emergency.”

No terrorists came to light here on October 7th, that much seems clear. But the entire tunnel system is not yet secured and not all branches are known. This is also why heavily armed soldiers accompany us. Because there could still be fighters in the corridors.

The extent of the destruction is not shown

“We discovered this tunnel, and this tunnel is actually like a small underground city,” says army spokesman Shalicar. “You can live in this little underground city, you can shower here, you can sleep here.” You can also hold people prisoner. “There are prison cells here, there is ventilation here, there is communication here – so really set up for a longer stay.”

What we see is how much effort Hamas has put into expanding its tunnel system. There are even recordings that are supposed to show the construction of this tunnel. What is not shown is how Israel is tackling the tunnel system in the Gaza Strip. This often causes enormous destruction on the surface – and, according to reports from the Gaza Strip, many civilian casualties.

Shalicar has another message: The terrorists in the Gaza Strip have invested a large part of their money in two things, says the army spokesman: in rockets and in the tunnels. The price of destroying all of this is high in this war. It consists in the widespread destruction of the Gaza Strip – and in many victims on both sides.