FLASH
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Israel has announced that it is striking parts of a secret labyrinth of tunnels built under the Gaza Strip.
"Think of the Gaza Strip as one layer for civilians and then another layer for Hamas. We're trying to get to that second layer that Hamas has built," an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman said in a video on Thursday.
"These are not bunkers for Gaza civilians. It is only for Hamas and other terrorists so they can continue to fire rockets at Israel, plan operations, launch terrorists into Israel," they claimed.
It is very difficult to estimate the size of the network, which Israel has dubbed the "Gaza Metro", because it is believed to extend under a territory that is only 41 km long and 10 km wide.
Construction of the tunnel began in Gaza before Israel withdrew its troops and settlers in 2005.
But it grew after Hamas took control of the Strip two years later, prompting Israel and Egypt to begin restricting the movement of goods and people in and out for security reasons.
At its peak, almost 2,500 tunnels running under the Egyptian border were used to smuggle commercial goods, fuel and weapons from Hamas and other militant groups.
Smuggling became less important to Gaza after 2010, when Israel began allowing more goods to be imported through its crossings. Egypt later shut down the smuggling by flooding or destroying the tunnels.
Hamas and other factions also began digging tunnels to attack Israeli forces.
In 2006, militants used a tunnel under the border with Israel to kill two Israeli soldiers and capture a third, Gilad Shalit, who they held captive for five years.
In 2013, the IDF discovered a 1.6 km long and 18 meter deep tunnel lined with a concrete roof and walls leading from the Strip to land near an Israeli kibbutz after residents heard strange sounds.
The IDF said its forces destroyed more than 30 tunnels during the war. But a group of militants were also able to use another tunnel to carry out an attack in which four Israeli soldiers were killed.
"Cross-border tunnels tend to be rudimentary, meaning they have no fortifications. They were dug for a single purpose - to occupy Israeli territory," says Dr Daphné Richemond-Barak, an expert on underground warfare who teaches at the University Reichman. in Israel.
"The tunnels inside Gaza are different because Hamas uses them regularly. They are probably more comfortable to stay in for longer periods of time. The leaders are hiding there, they have command and control centers, they use them for transport and communication lines . They are equipped with electricity, lighting and railway tracks. You can move more and stand," she said
She says Hamas appears to have "perfected the art" of tunneling and warfare in recent years, having learned much from observing the tactics of Syrian rebel fighters in Aleppo and jihadist militants from the Islamic State (IS) group in Mosul. /BBC
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