https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/422672
How the IDF gathered critical information on hostages in Gaza tunnels
Mako report reveals how the security establishment managed to gather information on hostages held captive in Gaza's tunnels.
One of the hostages who was released from captivity described to Mako how, on one of the days he was inside the tunnel, his captor went to relieve himself. The moment the terrorist left the area, a camera descended from the tunnel's ceiling and began filming the hostage.
When the terrorist returned, the camera retracted, so he did not notice it. During the war, the hostage did not discuss this with the terrorists holding him, and only after arriving in Israel was he informed that it was an IDF operation.
Mako added that over the course of the war, there was more than one instance in which the security establishment succeeded in filming hostages held in tunnels.
Earlier this week, Mako reported that the IDF used a special and classified capability, which cannot be detailed, but with its help, the forces succeeded in leading the terrorists to exit a Gaza tunnel, as part of the effort to return the hostages.
Senior officials in the security establishment closely monitored the operation and watched everything from Israel. Once they realized the operation had failed, there was immense disappointment.
The initial plan was to rescue the hostages and transfer them to a secret location in Israel for a few days, in an attempt to carry out a similar operation later. Once the operation failed, the method was abandoned and was not used again.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/422672
A vast network of underground tunnels used for warfare and to avoid Israeli airstrikes exists in the Gaza Strip. This infrastructure runs throughout the Gaza Strip and towards Egypt and Israel, and had been developed by Hamas and other Palestinian military organizations to facilitate the storing and shielding of weapons; the gathering and moving of fighters, including for training and communication purposes; the launching of offensive attacks against Israel; and the transportation of Israeli hostages. On several occasions, Palestinian militants have also used this tunnel network, which is colloquially referred to as the Gaza metro, to infiltrate Israel and Egypt while masking their presence and activities within the Gaza Strip itself. According to Iranian military officer Hassan Hassanzadeh, who commanded the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from Tehran, the Gaza Strip's tunnels run for more than 500 kilometres (310 mi) throughout the territory.
The total size and dimensions of the Palestinian tunnel network in the Gaza Strip is unknown, with all parties involved keeping the details classified. In 2016, Ismail Haniyeh, the former prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority and later Chairman of the Hamas Government, indicated that the tunnel network was double the size of the Củ Chi tunnels, which were developed by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War.
According to Eyal Weizman, "most tunnels have several access points and routes, starting in several homes or in chicken coops, joining together into a main route, and then branching off again into several separate passages leading into buildings on the other side."
The tunnel network used for warfare purposes has its origins in the smuggling tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt. Tunnels have connected the Egyptian and Gazan sides of Rafah since the early 1980s.
The implementation of the tunnel network was coordinated under the direction of Mohammed Deif, leader of Al-Qassam Brigades; and before that, Ahmed Jabari, formerly the head of operations for the Brigades before being killed by the IDF.
The tunnels into Israel were constructed using the expertise of the Rafah families who have specialized in digging tunnels into Egypt for commerce and smuggling. According to Eado Hecht, an Israeli defence analyst specialising in underground warfare, "These underground complexes are fairly similar in concept to the Viet Cong tunnels dug beneath the jungles of South Vietnam, though the quality of finishing is better, with concrete walls and roofs, electricity and other required amenities for lengthy sojourn."
The Israeli military provided estimates that in 2014 Hamas spent around $30 to $90 million, and poured 600,000 tons of concrete, in order to build three dozen tunnels. Some tunnels were estimated to have cost $3 million to construct.
The Mako network published a description of the working conditions on the tunnels: Workers spent 8–12 hours a day on construction under precarious conditions and received a monthly wage of $150–$300. Hamas used electric or pneumatic jackhammers for digging tunnels. Tunnels were dug 18–25 meters (59–82 ft) underground at the rate of 4–5 meters a day. Tunnels were usually dug through sandy soil requiring their roof to be supported by a more durable level of clay. Tunnels were also reinforced by concrete panels manufactured in workshops adjacent to each tunnel.
Construction and use of the tunnels is associated with mortal danger due to accidental detonation of explosives and tunnel collapses. Hamas reported that 22 members of its armed wing died in tunnel accidents in 2017.
Iranian involvement
After the 2007 imposition of a blockade on the Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt, the Iranian Quds Force under the longtime direction of General Qasem Soleimani was active in supporting the further construction of tunnels under Gaza and the smuggling of weapons through these tunnels to the armed wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In 2021 senior Hamas representative to Lebanon, Ahmad Abd al-Hadi said:
Retired Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps General Ezzatollah Zarghami admitted in November 2023 of having visited and inspected the Gaza tunnels himself along with senior Hamas members, during his active service with the Quds Force:
Fajr-3, which is a 240 mm rocket, was one of our products. Later, we made its warhead smaller and it had a range of 70 km. My first mission was to take this rocket [to the terrorists]. I traveled to the region as the production manager of those rockets, and I supplied them both to Hezbollah and the Palestinians. For some time, I was inside the very same tunnels that they are fighting from. Six or seven years ago, I posted about this and got the nickname 'yellow canary.' In the tunnels, I provided training about the usage and specification of the rockets. These training courses were highly successful. I saw that they had cages of singing canaries in the tunnels. I praised their commander about their acumen to have music during military work. The commander replied that the birds are not meant for singing, they are meant to be [oxygen] sensors in case the airflow is disrupted. If the airflow becomes weaker, the birds stop singing and drop dead. When the bird dies, we realize that there is a problem with airflow.
Mansour Haghighatpour, also a retired Quds Force General, stated in December 2023 that the creation of the tunnels under Gaza was an effort not only by the Palestinians but by the whole "Axis of Resistance":
The Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Jaffer Ladak asserted in January 2024 that Soleimani had played a major role in influencing the strategy of the Palestinian factions, turning it towards an underground warfare strategy:
The kidnapping of Israeli civilians and soldiers is one of the primary goals of tunnel construction. The Wall Street Journal described an attack tunnel inspected by one of its reporters as "designed for launching murder and kidnapping raids", noting that the "3-mile-long tunnel was reinforced with concrete, lined with telephone wires, and included cabins unnecessary for infiltration operations but useful for holding hostages.
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