The Wall Street Journal, citing American and Israeli officials, reported that about 80 percent of Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip remain intact after weeks of Israeli attempts to destroy them. The American newspaper noted that officials in Washington and Tel Aviv are struggling to make an accurate assessment of the extent of the destruction of the tunnel network, partly due to their inability to precisely determine the area and extent of these tunnels underground.
Officials from the United States and Israel estimate that between 20 percent and 40 percent of Hamas tunnels have been damaged or rendered inoperable, mostly in northern Gaza. The Wall Street Journal mentioned that Israel has sought to "clear" the tunnels through various methods, including installing massive pumps to flood them with seawater, destroying them with airstrikes and liquid explosives, inspecting them with dogs and robots, and demolishing their entrances and raiding them with trained soldiers.
According to American and Israeli officials, seawater has caused some of these tunnels to erode, but the overall effort has not been as effective as hoped, as walls, barriers, and other unexpected defenses have slowed or stopped the flow of water. The newspaper indicated that Israel has specialized engineering units that include engineers trained to destroy tunnels, rather than searching for what they described as "hostages" and "senior Hamas leaders," noting that Israel needs more troops to destroy these tunnels.
