As expected, the intensification of the campaign in Gaza leads to the extensive detection and destruction of terrorist infrastructure: various military installations, large quantities of weapons, and the crowning glory – the enormous tunneling system that Hamas has built in Gaza.
Watch footage from Jabaliya: Tunnel shaft next to baby cot inside children's room \\ Photo: IDF Spokesperson
Such a tunnel was revealed to the public on Tuesday. It is one of a kind, but it has quite a few sister tunnels in various configurations that have also been exposed and will be exposed. From what has been gathered so far, it is already possible to formulate some insights, which are critical to the war in Gaza but also to other arenas. The main one deals with accumulated early intelligence and deciding what to do with it in order to neutralize dangers and threats.
Israel was not surprised by the tunnel system in the Gaza Strip. She was surprised by the depths, the routes, the connections, the multiplicity and diversity of the shafts, even the excavation methods. But the very fact that Hamas relies on tunnels as a method of warfare – offensive, defensive and smuggling – has been known for more than two decades. The IDF also addressed this by means of the fence that was built, which blocked the tunnels that penetrated into Israeli territory but did not stop the method.
The route of the tunnel found, from the shaft to the Qatari building inside Shifa Hospital (illustration), photo: IDF Spokesperson
The specific tunnel that reached Erez Crossing – nicknamed "orchid-like" by the IDF – was already known in 2015 (not in full). She was attacked several times, but not systematically. Other known tunnels were also subject to near-complete immunity, and when attacked they were difficult to deal with at their roots because they were deliberately located under densely populated areas (Jabaliya and Sejaiya).
The last time Israel used massive force against Hamas' tunneling system was during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021. At the time, it implemented the "lightning strike" plan, designed to trap thousands of Hamas operatives inside the tunnels and kill them. In practice, the deception that was supposed to smuggle Hamas operatives into the tunnels was partially and unsuccessfully, and the tunnels were attacked with a low double-digit death toll. Thus, Israel lost a strategic plan, without seriously harming the enemy and while giving it the opportunity to learn lessons and improve.
Israel was negligent, the enemy improved
In the two and a half years that have passed since then, Israel has refrained from attacking Hamas, claiming that it is deterred and seeking an arrangement, and has focused on Islamic Jihad. The result: Hamas worked vigorously to improve its tunnel network, until it attacked on Black Saturday. Israel knew some things and some things didn't, but intelligence is not the main problem in this story; The problem lies in the decision to preserve Hamas and not harm it, thinking that it is not the problem but the solution.
The tunnels in this story are just the symptom. The disease is much worse: mountains of information about enemy plans and intentions that are not dealt with under various and strange pretexts. The main one is the threat posed by Hezbollah in the north, and Israel's 17-year-old decision not to deal with it. In fact, even today, Israel prioritizes a partial and temporary response, thinking that postponing the problem will also solve it.
A soldier near the opening of a tunnel, photo: Ziv Koren
Israel doesn't have to go to war every day, over everything. But it cannot turn abstinence from combat into an ideology. The tunnel problem – as well as the myriad other threats posed by Hamas and its operational plans, as well as by Hezbollah – was known for years to everyone, from the prime ministers down. What did they decide to do with it? Nothing. The heavy price paid on 7 October and paid every day in Gaza is largely due to this failure.
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