Worthy Christian News > Israel-Palestinian Conflict > Israel Discovers Underground Tunnel Network Connecting North and South of Gaza Strip

Israel Discovers Underground Tunnel Network Connecting North and South of Gaza Strip

by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Nahal Brigade uncovered an extensive tunnel network measuring 6.2 miles (10 km) in length beneath the Gaza Strip. This network, utilized by Hamas for movement from the northern to the southern regions of Gaza, is currently being demolished, the IDF announced on Monday.

Following the discovery of parts of the tunnel beneath critical locations, including the Turkish hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, the main university campus south of Gaza City, and Hamas’s central prison, the IDF began the process of dismantling the extensive underground network.

“The 162nd Division located a network of underground terror tunnels connecting the north and south of the Gaza Strip. The forces gained operational control over the tunnel shafts, investigated the tunnels, and then destroyed a large part of the network,” the IDF said in a statement.

“Inside the tunnels, the troops located rooms including toilets, storage facilities for weapons and combat equipment, a branching tunnel shaft network, as well as the bodies of terrorists left in the tunnel,” the statement added.

Colonel Yair Zuckerman, Commander of the Nahal Brigade, stated, “In recent weeks, together with engineering forces, we have carried out significant activities to locate a network of underground tunnels that runs from the north to the south of the Strip, with the understanding that part of the dismemberment of the Strip is both an on-ground effort and underground.”

The Nahal Brigade, overseeing the Netzarim Corridor checkpoints, has observed a significant influx of Gazans moving south from the northern part of the Strip, where about 250,000 people remain. This migration is influenced by the IDF’s policy, which prohibits the nearly one million residents who fled south from returning to their northern homes, particularly in Gaza City, amidst ongoing operations against Hamas terrorists and a scarcity of aid. The IDF estimates that approximately 1,000 Palestinians are relocating to the south on a daily basis.