One yr after the October 7 assaults by Hamas during which 251 Israelis have been taken hostage, an knowledgeable has revealed the extent of the phobia group’s tunnel community and the important thing to defeating them.
A senior safety knowledgeable stated Hamas’ underground tunnel community in Gaza, sometimes called the “Gaza metro”, is alarmingly extra in depth than the London Underground.
Daniel Roth, Managing Director on the Counter Extremism Undertaking (CEP), said that a lot of the underground system stays intact regardless of Israeli airstrikes and ongoing efforts to neutralise it.
He informed the Day by day Categorical: “Provided that Hamas constructed a subterranean complicated, the so-called ‘Gaza metro’, extra in depth than the London Underground, it’s fully possible that a lot of the tunnel system continues to be functioning.”
He added that Israeli Protection Forces (IDF) engineers have been specializing in disabling key sections of the community reasonably than destroying it outright.
Roth stated: “The sheer magnitude of the community, which price tons of of hundreds of thousands, if not billions, of {dollars} and took almost twenty years to assemble, might in the end require a extra complete destruction to render it completely inoperable.”
Roth emphasised that the tunnels are an important a part of Hamas’ operations, together with navy actions and the concealment of hostages.
Israeli officers imagine 101 hostages, together with youngsters and aged civilians, are nonetheless being held captive by Hamas, 35 of whom are regarded as useless.
Roth defined that the IDF has been pressured to undertake a extra deliberate strategy to neutralise the tunnels, on condition that hostages are doubtless being moved all through Gaza utilizing the community.
He stated: “Extremely skilled IDF engineering items have an array of choices to incapacitate the tunnels, starting from seawater flooding to liquid emulsion explosives.
“The selection is dependent upon the actual location, measurement, and tunnel typology. For now, Israel is pressured to undertake a slower and extra cautious technique, given the presence of the hostages.”
The tunnels, which function important arteries for smuggling weapons, storing navy property, and launching cross-border assaults, are central to Hamas’ navy operations.
Roth careworn that neutralising this community is essential for Israel to revive safety and safe the discharge of the remaining hostages.
He concluded: “Hamas’ tunnel complicated is each the first technique of transferring hostages and the place of captivity for the remaining ones… Any smart observer would recognise that neutralising these tunnels is crucial.”