DaysofPal – Israeli military and intelligence assessments have revealed that intensive detection and destruction operations carried out in the Gaza Strip have reached only about half of the tunnel network constructed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, in a new acknowledgment of the scale and complexity of the underground infrastructure built by Palestinian resistance factions over many years.
The Hebrew-language news site Walla quoted Israeli security officials as saying that the area stretching between the separation fence and the so-called “yellow line,” which remains under Israeli military control, has not been fully included in current estimates of destroyed tunnels. This, officials admitted, highlights significant gaps in the army’s assessment of its actual control on the ground.
The Israeli army had previously estimated the total length of Gaza’s tunnel network at around 400 kilometers. However, senior military officials now believe the network is far more extensive, with updated estimates placing its length between 560 and 720 kilometers, according to the report.
In response to these findings, Israeli War Minister Israel Katz issued urgent directives to intensify and accelerate tunnel-detection operations. In closed-door discussions, he reportedly emphasized what he described as a “firm stance” aimed at completely dismantling the infrastructure built by armed factions in Gaza, Walla reported.
These directives include increasing the number of forces deployed in the field, expanding the use of heavy engineering equipment, and boosting the number of teams operating in intensive, round-the-clock shifts.
Over the past two weeks, Israel’s Southern Command has significantly escalated tunnel-search operations, carrying out simultaneous excavation efforts at an accelerated pace within limited geographic zones.
The Israeli military has also begun combining multiple methods for tunnel destruction, including the use of various explosive techniques alongside the injection of special materials that harden inside tunnels, rendering them unusable. Engineering sources quoted by Walla claimed these materials “shorten timelines, increase operational tempo, and reduce risks to forces.”
Alongside these engineering efforts, the Israeli army is conducting extensive intelligence activity, including field interrogations and comprehensive ground surveys, aimed at locating tunnel entrances and producing a complete map of their routes and maximum extensions.
A Complex Underground System
These efforts come as part of a broader attempt to understand what Israeli officials have described as a highly complex system developed over nearly two decades.
According to the same sources, Hamas and Islamic Jihad constructed a multi-purpose tunnel network, with some areas resembling “underground highways,” used for years to transport weapons, ammunition, and explosive materials.
Underscoring the scale of the network, Walla reported that officers from the U.S. Central Command who reviewed intelligence data on the tunnels expressed “great astonishment” at both the size of the network in Gaza and the scope of Israeli engineering operations aimed at countering it.
In a related development, Yedioth Ahronoth reported that recent weather conditions caused a significant underground collapse approximately 800 meters north of the separation fence in northern Gaza, within a security zone that Israel expects to remain under its control under all scenarios.
The newspaper said the Israeli army suspects the collapse exposed a previously unknown major Hamas tunnel after soldiers from the 12th Battalion of the Golani Brigade identified the site following heavy rainfall, subsequently isolating and securing the area.
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