The Israeli army in recent weeks discovered a massive attack tunnel built by the Hamas terror organization that originates in Jabaliya and ends close to the Erez Border Crossing, the IDF announced on Sunday.
The tunnel runs about four kilometers (2.5 miles) in length, at a depth of up to 50 meters (165 feet) underground and is large enough for motorcycles and cars to drive through. One side of its tunnel shaft ends about 400 meters (a quarter mile) from the Israeli border.
The underground system is seen as a strategic asset by Hamas, however, the terror group didn’t utilize the tunnels on Oct. 7, allegedly to keep the option open to use it for another future, large-scale attack against Israeli communities, such as nearby Netiv HaAsara.
“Its width indicates that it was intended to have been used for vehicle-borne raids against civilians in the Gaza border communities,” the commander of the IDF Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, Col. Haim Cohen, said in a video statement.
IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari called it “Sinwar’s secret,” in a nod to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and his brother Muhammad, responsible for the construction project which is estimated to have cost millions of dollars.
The tunnel’s construction included experts who were brought in, especially from Khan Younis, where Muhammad Sinwar is based. The specialist used unknown materials and special digging machines.
The main tunnel was three meters high and several meters wide at some points and is one of the largest found in the Gaza Strip so far, IDF officers told Kan News.
"This is a flagship project of Hamas. It is a branched underground network in which construction dozens of terrorists participated and millions of dollars were invested. This is not a tunnel, this is a city, a terrorist city that Hamas dug,” Hagari stated.
Intelligence operations during the fighting have provided a lot of additional information about Hamas’ terror tunnel project, the IDF said in its statement.
IDFspokesman: 'This is not a regular tunnel - it is an underground city of terror'
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