On October 7, Israeli forces launched a rampage in Gaza after Hamas fighters infiltrated into Israel and launched an attack. In addition to taking control of northern Gaza, their goal is to destroy Hamas’ network of tunnels.
Richard Outzen, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council of Turkey and a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a defense policy think tank, said, ‘The complete elimination of tunnels will be a slow, relentless and long-term task. But Israeli forces will likely continue to try.
Joel Roskin, a geologist at Israel’s Bar-Ilam University, has been studying the tunnels in Gaza for a long time. He said that this tunnel of Hamas today is the result of more than two decades of work starting from the eighties.
Initially, the tunnels were used to smuggle goods from Egypt. However, the first evidence that they are being used by Hamas was found in 2001. At that time, an Israeli military post was blown up in an explosion carried out using a tunnel.
Five years later, Palestinian fighters emerged from a tunnel and kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Then the Israelis shook.
After Hamas won full control of Gaza in 2007, Israel imposed a strict blockade on the Gaza Strip. Tunnels resulting from Gaza
The only way to escape the siege is to get food, goods and weapons into Gaza.
The Israeli army is bombing the hospital through this tunnel. They claim that Hamas tunnels are under the hospitals. There are their bases and weapons. Hamas denies this claim.
Experts say airstrikes cannot reach deep enough to destroy the tunnel’s core. This requires the Israeli army to take control of all entrances and exits to the tunnel. It will be a very long and dangerous expedition.
Andreas Krieg, associate professor of defense studies at King’s College London, said: ‘This whole process takes a lot of time and is very dangerous. ‘
According to experts, Israel will not attempt to enter the tunnel unless absolutely necessary.
According to Jamestown Foundation senior fellow Richard Outgen, the Israeli military will employ a combined approach. This will include limited raids on some tunnels to rescue hostages and detain Hamas leaders, detonate some tunnels to destroy the network, etc. But these tasks are time-consuming and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is running out of time.
