80 Percent of Gaza Strip’s Tunnel Network Still Intact

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Approximately 80 percent of Gaza’s intricate network of tunnels remain intact despite weeks of Israeli attempts to destroy them, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Israeli and American officials told the Journal that it is difficult to know the total number of existing tunnels, but it is estimated that between 20 and 40 percent of them have been destroyed or remain inactive, most of them in the northern Gaza Strip.

At the end of last year, Israel installed a system of pumps in the northern Gaza Strip to flood the tunnels with seawater, as a part of an operation called Sea of Atlantis. Despite warnings that the plan could harm sewage infrastructure and buildings, and damage the fresh water reservoirs, Israel carried out the plan on several occasions. Another pump was even installed in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip at the beginning of the month, noted the Journal.

A tunnel where hostages were held in Khan Yunis and which was destroyed by IDF forces last week.
A tunnel where hostages were held in Khan Yunis and which was destroyed by IDF forces last week.Credit: IDF

According to American officials, the operation turned out to be less effective than anticipated, largely due to obstructions and wall barriers which stopped the water flow.

Israeli officials also told the Journal that hostages were being held in a Hamas control center under Khan Yunis, where Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is also hiding.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, in Gaza, last week.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, in Gaza.Credit: Mahmud Hams 

“The question is: Is there a real way to get the hostages out alive?” an official said. “Otherwise, we would have been much more forceful in our approach.” Former Israeli officials and military analysts said that a raid on the control center could endanger the lives of the Israeli hostages.

Officials added that the army’s plan at this stage focuses on damaging the connections between tunnels and shafts, in order to block the movement of Hamas leaders and terrorists, rather than completely destroying of the tunnel system.
American sources explained that Israeli troops trained to deal with tunnels specialize in destroying and detonating them, and not in searching for hostages or senior Hamas officials. According to the sources, the IDF will need to transfer additional forces in order to locate the tunnels and destroy them throughout the war.