In the darkness beneath Gaza, a new kind of warfare is being waged. As the Israel-Hamas conflict approaches its one-year mark, the IDF is fighting Hamas on a new front- one they have known about for a long time but have never before been forced to confront: Hamas' elaborate network of tunnels that stretches for 300 miles—longer than the London Underground.
A Subterranean Challenge
For Lt. Col. Oren (name changed for security reasons), the realization came after weeks of frustration. "We'd clear an area, move on, and then rockets would launch from the very place we'd just secured," he says. "That's when we understood—the real battle wasn't on the surface. It was beneath our feet."
The tunnels have been under construction since 2006, and are now Hamas's center of gravity, allowing terrorists to pop up and disappear at will, using homemade Al-Yassin 105 rocket-propelled grenades.
Adapting to a New Battlefield
Israel first tried this—evacuating civilians, clearing areas, and bombing tunnel entrances—but quickly realized that it was completely ineffective. So the IDF had to innovate, and quickly.
"If you want to understand how to maneuver in Gaza, think from underground up," explains one Israeli general. This new doctrine involved coordinating air support, special forces, infantry, armor, and naval assets both above and below ground—a military feat never before attempted on this scale.
The Human Element
Not all soldiers were prepared for the psychological toll of underground combat. "It's a different world down there," says Sgt. Yael, a combat engineer. "The darkness, the tight spaces—it's not for everyone."
The IDF deployed high-tech navigation gadgets and even dogs with back-mounted cameras, allowing handlers to give radio instructions from the surface, and thus minimizing casualties.
A Network Like No Other
As Israeli forces went deeper, they discovered a subterranean world of surprising sophistication. Narrow tunnels led to larger chambers with living quarters, offices, and even cells for Israeli hostages. Some Hamas leaders' headquarters were found mere feet below their family homes.
"It is huge. Amazing. Mind-blowing," one officer admits. "As a commander, I take my hat off to their infrastructure."
The Cost of Progress
The toll on Gaza's infrastructure has been severe. According to IDF commanders, there is "not one mosque, school or hospital that does not contain a Hamas shaft."
Yet, paradoxically, fighting underground has reduced civilian casualties. Hamas, not expecting the IDF to enter the tunnels, had barred Palestinian civilians from sheltering there.
A Race Against Time
As the conflict grinds on, the IDF's efficiency in clearing tunnels has improved dramatically. Months ago, in Khan Younis, it took them four months to clear 37 miles of tunnels. Months later in Shejaiya, a similar network was destroyed in just two weeks.
Now, attention has turned to the Philadelphi corridor, a 9-mile strip along the Gaza-Egypt border riddled with smuggling tunnels. Here, combat engineers work tirelessly, using fiber-optic cameras to detect and destroy hidden passages.
The Road Ahead
Although Israel knows that destroying the tunnel network will stop future attacks, challenges remain. Israeli intelligence suggests many Hamas fighters have blended into the civilian population, planning to return to the tunnels if Israel withdraws.
As young Israeli soldiers continue to descend into the darkness, fighting a war unlike any other, the famous words of Hassidic master Rebbi Nachman of Breslev resonate: "The whole world is like a very narrow bridge and the most important thing is not to be afraid."
In the tunnels beneath Gaza, that bridge has never been narrower, and the stakes have never been higher.
* The Telegraph contributed to this article.
