The Hamas tunnel city beneath Gaza — a hidden frontline for Israel

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Updated 28 October 2023
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The Hamas tunnel city beneath Gaza — a hidden frontline for Israel

  • Hamas has tunnels for attack, smuggling and storage and stretch for hundreds of kilometer
  • Hostage described network as like ‘a spider’s web’

JERUSALEM/LONDON: What lies in wait for Israeli ground troops in Gaza, security sources say, is a Hamas tunnel network hundreds of kilometers long and up to 80 meters deep, described by one freed hostage as “a spider’s web” and by one expert as the “Viet Cong times 10.”
The Palestinian Islamist group has different kinds of tunnels running beneath the sandy 360-sq-km coastal strip and its borders — including attack, smuggling, storage and operational burrows, Western and Middle East sources familiar with the matter said.
The United States believes Israel’s special forces will face an unprecedented challenge having to battle Hamas militants while trying to avoid killing hostages held below ground, a US official said.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin noted that Iraq’s nine-month-long battle to retake the city of Mosul from Daesh might prove to have been easier than what awaits the Israelis — likely to be “a lot of IEDs (improvised explosive devices), a lot of booby traps, and just a really grinding activity.”
Even though Israel has invested heavily in tunnel detection — including a sensor-equipped underground barrier it called an “iron wall” — Hamas is still thought to have working tunnels to the outside world.
After the last round of hostilities in 2021, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yehya Al-Sinwar, said: “They started saying they destroyed 100km of Hamas tunnels. I am telling you, the tunnels we have in the Gaza Strip exceed 500 km. Even if their narrative is true, they only destroyed 20 percent of the tunnels.”

HOSTAGE WITNESS
There has been no corroboration of the comment by Sinwar, who is thought to be hiding underground ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive.
But the estimate of hundreds of kilometers is widely accepted by security analysts, even though the blockaded coastal strip is only 40km long.
With Israel in full control of Gaza’s air and sea access and 59km of its 72km land borders — with Egypt 13km to the south — tunnels provide one of the few ways for Hamas to bring in weapons, equipment and people.
While it and other Palestinian groups are secretive about their networks, recently released Israeli hostage, 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz, said: “It looked like a spider’s web, many, many tunnels,” adding: “We walked kilometers under the ground.”
Hamas believes that with Israel’s overwhelming aerial and armored military superiority, tunnels are a way to cut some of those advantages by forcing Israel’s soldiers to move underground in cramped spaces the Hamas fighters know well.
An Israeli military spokesperson said on Thursday: “I won’t elaborate on the number of kilometers of tunnels but it is a high number, built under schools and residential areas.”
Urging the United Nations Security Council to intervene, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for an immediate cessation of “aggression” on Gaza and moves toward “a political solution instead of military and security solutions.”

UNDERGROUND CITY
Israeli security sources say Israel’s heavy aerial bombardments have caused little damage to the tunnel infrastructure with Hamas naval commandos able to launch a seaborne attack targeting coastal communities near Gaza this week.
“Although we have been attacking massively for days and days, the (Hamas) leadership is pretty much intact, as is the ability to command and control, the ability even to try and launch counter attacks,” said Amir Avivi, a former brigadier general whose senior positions in the Israeli military included deputy commander of the Gaza division, tasked with tackling tunnels.
“There is a whole city all over Gaza underneath with depths of 40-50 meters. There are bunkers and headquarters and storage and of course they are connected to more than a thousand rocket launching positions.”
Other sources estimated depths of up to 80 meters.
One Western security source said: “They run for miles. They are made of concrete and very well made. Think of the Viet Cong times 10. They have had years and lots of money with which to work with.”
Another security source, from one of Israel’s neighboring countries, said Hamas’s tunnels from Egypt remain active.
“The supply chain is still intact these days. The network involved in facilitating co-ordination are some Egyptian military officers. It is unclear if there is knowledge of this by the Egyptian army,” he said.
A small number of narrower, deep, smuggling tunnels were still operating until recently between Egypt and Gaza, according to two security sources and a trader in the Egyptian city of El Arish, but they had slowed to a near-halt since the Israel-Hamas war started.
Egyptian officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said while inspecting military units in Suez that the army’s role was to secure Egyptian borders.

LONG GAME
Hamas was created in Gaza in 1987 and is thought to have begun digging tunnels in the mid-1990s, when Israel granted Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization some degree of self-rule in Gaza.
The tunnel network is a key reason why Hamas is stronger in Gaza than in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israel’s settlements, military bases and monitoring devices make it harder to get anything in from Jordan.
Tunneling became easier in 2005 when Israel pulled its soldiers and settlers out of Gaza, and when Hamas won power in a 2006 election.
Shortly afterwards Hamas’s military wing, the Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades, captured Gilad Shalit and killed two other Israeli soldiers after burrowing 600 meters to raid the Kerem Shalom base on the Gaza border.
A year later Hamas used tunnels in Gaza to launch a military strike against the forces of Arafat’s successor as PLO leader, Mahmoud Abbas.
Although the military tunnels remained off-limits to outside eyes, during that era Gaza smugglers would show off their scarcely concealed commercial tunnels under the Rafah border.
These were around three feet (one meter) wide and used winch motors to haul goods along the sandy tunnel floors in hollowed-out petrol barrels.
One Rafah tunnel operator, Abu Qusay, said a half-mile tunnel took three to six months to dig and could yield profits of up to $100,000 a day. The most profitable item was bullets, bought for $1 each in Egypt and fetching more than $6 in Gaza. Kalashnikov rifles, he said, cost $800 in Egypt and sold for twice that.
In 2007 the military wing is thought to have brought its commander Mohammed Deif into Gaza through a tunnel from Egypt. Deif was the mastermind behind Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 attack into Israel, which killed 1,400 people and hostages were taken.

TUNNEL HUNTING
Professor Joel Roskin, a geomorphologist and geologist with Israel’s Bar-Ilan University said it was difficult to map the tunnel network accurately from the surface or space, adding highly classified information was essential for 3D mapping and imagery visualization.
Among the elite units tasked with going underground is Yahalom, specialist commandos from Israel’s Combat Engineering Corps known as the “weasels,” who specialize in finding, clearing and destroying the tunnels.
Earlier this week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Yahalom fighters, telling them: “I rely on you, the people of Israel rely on you.”
Israeli sources said what awaits them is formidable and they faced an enemy that has regrouped and learned from previous Israeli operations in 2014 and 2021.
“There are going to be a lot of booby traps. They have thermobaric weapons that they didn’t have in 2021, which are more lethal. And I believe they acquired a lot of anti-tank weapon systems that are going to try to hit our APCs (armored personnel carriers), tanks,” said Amnon Sofrin, a former brigadier general and former commander of the Combat Intelligence Corps.
Sofrin, who was also previously head of the intelligence directorate with Israel’s Mossad spy agency, said Hamas would also be trying to kidnap soldiers.
Daphne Richemond-Barak, professor at Israel’s Reichman University and author of the book Underground Warfare, said the conflicts in Syria and Iraq had changed the situation.
“What the IDF (Israeli military) is likely to face inside the tunnels is also all of the experience and all of the knowledge that has been gained by groups like Daesh (Islamic State) and has been ... passed on to Hamas.”


Morocco’s king calls for addressing regional inequalities

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Morocco’s king calls for addressing regional inequalities

RABAT: Morocco’s King Mohammed VI urged on Tuesday the government to elaborate a new generation of reforms to ensure equal development between the country’s regions.
“It is not acceptable for Morocco – today or at any time in the future – to be a two-speed country,” the king, who has final say over the country’s strategic policies, said in an annual speech marking 26 years of his reign.
While the level of poverty has dropped in Morocco from 11.9 percent in 2014 to 6.8 percent in 2024, some inner regions show above-average poverty levels, according to the national statistics agency.
Morocco has attracted industrial investments in sectors such as aerospace and car manufacturing, which now top its exports.
However, most of the country’s GDP, industry and critical infrastructure are concentrated in the northwestern areas, leaving the rest of Morocco dependent on farming, fisheries and tourism.
“Some regions — particularly in rural areas — are still suffering from poverty and vulnerability, due to a lack of infrastructure and basic facilities,” the king said.
The new reforms should aim at improving social services, education, health care and water management as well as promoting employment, he said.
Morocco created just 82,000 jobs last year, which falls short of reducing the country’s high unemployment rate at 13.3 percent, according to the central bank.
In his speech, the king also reaffirmed Morocco’s readiness for “a frank, responsible, fraternal and sincere dialogue on the various issues pending” with Algeria.
Algeria cut ties with Morocco in 2021, halted the flow of gas, banned Moroccan flights from crossing its airspace and imposed visas on Moroccans, after the kingdom resumed ties with Israel.
The two most populous countries in the Maghreb are at loggerheads over the status of Western Sahara. Morocco considers the territory its own, while Algeria hosts and backs the Polisario Front, which seeks its own state there.
The king also thanked the UK and Portugal, the most recent Western nations to back Morocco’s autonomy plan for the territory.

Syrian, Israeli ministers to hold meeting in Baku on Thursday: diplomat

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Syrian, Israeli ministers to hold meeting in Baku on Thursday: diplomat

  • The meeting between Syrian and Israeli ministers follows a similar one between them in Paris last week
  • Baku’s meeting will focus on “the security situation, particularly in southern Syria”

DAMASCUS: A Syrian-Israeli ministerial meeting is set to take place on Thursday in Baku to discuss security matters in southern Syria, a diplomat told AFP.
The meeting between Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani and Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer follows a similar meeting between the two ministers in Paris last week.
It will take place after an unprecedented visit by Shaibani to Moscow on Thursday, added the diplomat, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Russia was a key backer of former President Bashar Assad, overthrown in December.
Israel and Syria have technically been at war since 1948.
The meeting in Baku will focus on “the security situation, particularly in southern Syria.”
The Paris meeting focused mainly on “recent security developments and attempts to contain the escalation in southern Syria,” according to Syrian state television.
It came after deadly clashes in southern Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida province which killed hundreds of people.
The clashes initially pitted local Druze fighters against Bedouin tribes but soon saw the involvement of Syrian government forces and Israel, with the latter saying it wanted to protect the Druze.
Israel struck the Syrian presidential palace and the army headquarters in Damascus.
The United States, an ally of Israel that has also expressed support for Syria’s authorities, announced a ceasefire between the two sides overnight on July 18.
Before the violence in Sweida, Syrian and Israeli officials had met in Baku on July 12.
Russian bases in Syria
Israel has occupied Syria’s Golan Heights since 1967, annexing it in 1981 in a move not recognized by the international community.
The two signed a disengagement agreement a year after the 1973 war, establishing a UN-patrolled buffer zone between Syria and the occupied Golan Heights.
Since the fall of Assad, Israel deployed its troops to the buffer zone and has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria.
Damascus admitted to holding indirect talks with Israel to reduce escalations.
The diplomat said Shaibani will head on Thursday to the Russian capital, where Assad sought refuge, and will meet with Russian officials to discuss several issues, including Russian military bases in Syria, to negotiate “the terms of the bases’ continued existence and operating rights.”
Moscow wishes to keep its naval base in Tartus and its air base in Hmeimim.
It faced heavy criticism for its intervention into Syria’s civil war on Assad’s side in 2015, supporting the government militarily and conducting countless airstrikes on rebel-held areas.
The new authorities in Damascus did not break ties with Russia after taking over, and Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met Syrian interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Damascus in January.
According to the diplomat, Shaibani’s trip to Moscow will also include talks on “supporting bilateral cooperation and revitalising diplomatic and security relations” between the two countries, as well as discussing “steps regarding internal security and foreign fighters.”


Jordanian king says Gaza catastrophe ‘unlike anything witnessed’ in recent history

Updated 25 min 41 sec ago
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Jordanian king says Gaza catastrophe ‘unlike anything witnessed’ in recent history

  • King Abdullah affirms that ‘Jordan has been, and will remain, the greatest support for Gaza’s people’
  • He emphasized Jordan’s ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the Gaza conflict and highlighted discussions aimed at enhancing the humanitarian response

LONDON: King Abdullah II of Jordan said on Wednesday that the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip is among the worst in modern history, as the Israeli military campaign in the Palestinian coastal enclave reaches its 22nd month.

He affirmed that “Jordan has been, and will remain, the greatest support for Gaza’s people, who are suffering from a humanitarian catastrophe unlike anything witnessed in recent history.”

During a meeting with media representatives at Al Husseiniya Palace, King Abdullah emphasized Jordan’s ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the Gaza conflict. He highlighted discussions with Germany and Canada, as well as coordination with Arab leaders and international partners, aimed at enhancing the humanitarian response in Gaza.

“The suffering of our brethren in Gaza strikes at the very sense of our humanity, not just because it is happening at our doorstep, but also because this country was built on compassion, on standing with those who suffer,” he said.

“No matter how much we do, it can never measure up to the scale of the horror Palestinians in Gaza endure every single day, not when entire families are being erased and children are being starved.

“But that doesn’t mean that we are not doing everything in our power. We are. And we will continue to do so, relentlessly and without hesitation,” he said, Petra news agency reported.

The Jordanian leadership has been steadfast in its support of Palestinian rights, including the establishment of statehood and an end to Israeli occupation policies. Jordan was one of the first countries to conduct airlift missions in the early days of the Israeli war, delivering relief to Gaza, and dispatching hundreds of aid convoy trucks to the territory since late 2023.


Palestinian president hails ‘courageous’ New York call by 15 nations as ‘historic step toward peace’

Updated 53 min 29 sec ago
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Palestinian president hails ‘courageous’ New York call by 15 nations as ‘historic step toward peace’

  • Their call for recognition of Palestinian statehood follows UN conference, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, on a 2-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians
  • It is signed by the foreign ministers of Andorra, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia and Spain

LONDON: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed his gratitude for a call by the foreign ministers of 15 Western countries for nations that have not yet officially recognized the State of Palestine to make moves to do so.

Their call came after the conclusion on Tuesday of a two-day, high-level international conference, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, that took place at the UN headquarters in New York with the aim of advancing efforts to achieve a two-state solution to the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

The statement was signed by the foreign ministers of Andorra, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia and Spain. Not all of these countries have officially announced recognition of Palestinian statehood as yet.

Abbas described the statement as courageous, the official Palestinian Wafa News Agency reported, and added that it “represents a historic step toward achieving a just and comprehensive peace and strengthens international efforts to end the Israeli occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

He said these friendly nations had affirmed their commitment to the vision of a two-state solution and peace based on the rule of international law and relevant UN resolutions, and urged other countries to support their initiative to help ensure security and stability for all peoples in the region.

On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK would officially recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, unless Israel takes action to end the war and “the appalling situation in Gaza,” and commits to a long-term, sustainable plan for peace based on a two-state solution.

French President Emmanuel Macron recently announced that France will officially recognize Palestinian statehood during the General Assembly.


Egypt, Ukraine agree steps to boost grain and sunflower oil trade

Updated 50 min 39 sec ago
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Egypt, Ukraine agree steps to boost grain and sunflower oil trade

  • Talks focused on strengthening food supply chains and expanding Ukraine’s agricultural footprint in the Egyptian market
  • Ukraine exported $776.5 million worth of goods to Egypt in the first half of 2025

CAIRO: Egypt and Ukraine have agreed to take specific steps to boost trade in key farm commodities including grain and sunflower oil as Kyiv seeks to deepen ties with its largest trading partner in the Middle East and North Africa, the Ukrainian embassy said.

An embassy statement on Wednesday did not elaborate on the steps or provide a timeline.

The announcement came shortly after a meeting in Cairo between Ukrainian Ambassador Mykola Nahornyi and senior officials from the state grain buyer, the Future of Egypt for Sustainable Development.

Talks focused on strengthening food supply chains and expanding Ukraine’s agricultural footprint in the Egyptian market, the embassy statement said.

Ukraine exported $776.5 million worth of goods to Egypt in the first half of 2025, primarily wheat, whose exports to Egypt reached 1.31 million metric tons. Corn exports to Egypt were at 1.06 million tons and soybeans were 360,000 tons, according to the embassy.

Total bilateral trade during the period reached $947.9 million, it added.

Egypt is often the world’s largest wheat importer, relying on foreign supplies for both its subsidised bread program and private milling. Ukraine and Russia have both traditionally been the main source for Egypt’s grain imports.

But in the first half of this year, Egypt’s wheat imports fell by more than 27 percent year-on-year to around 5.2 million metric tons, with the government’s share of those imports plunging more than 57 percent to 1.5 million tons.

Ukraine’s embassy said the new measures aim to improve logistics and ensure more efficient, timely and transparent deliveries to Egypt.

The Ukrainian Embassy and Future of Egypt both did not immediately respond to a Reuters
request for comment.