Israeli military engineering officers reported detecting an opening to one of Hamas' tunnels beneath an evacuated hospital in northern Gaza, after which they filled the passage with explosive gel and pressed the detonation button. This mechanism is known as sponge bombs. Surveillance footage showed an explosion surrounding the building, resulting in smoke rising from at least three points along a nearby road in the neighborhood of Beit Hanoun.
An army officer told reporters at the Tze'elim base for ground forces in southern Israel, "The gel spread and blew up anything that might have been waiting for us in the tunnel." Clearing the tunnels is a crucial part of the Israeli military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to the attack by the armed Palestinian group on southern Israel. Both sides claim the tunnels stretch for hundreds of kilometers beneath Gaza, and the army tends to use robots and other advanced remote technologies.
The identity of the officer cannot be disclosed according to press statement rules in such circumstances, and the officer declined to provide further details about the underground fighting. The name of the hospital in Beit Hanoun was not specified. The officer stated, "I believe there are other means being developed. This is the area where creativity and innovation are valuable."
He added that in Beit Hanoun, where his forces were operating, some militants attacked the Israeli army from tunnel openings, but army soldiers killed them.
**Tunnel Network**
Security sources indicate that Hamas has tunnels for attacks, smuggling, and storage, which can lead to dozens of openings for each tunnel at depths ranging from 20 to 80 meters. The Israeli army stated last week that it had destroyed 130 openings so far, but did not provide a number for the tunnels it could demolish.
Destroying the tunnels is a difficult task. The officer stated that blowing up a few hundred meters of tunnel requires several tons of explosive gel, but he refused to give any technical details beyond stating that it is transported by trucks. Even after detonation, it is challenging to ascertain the results. The officer noted that he had destroyed about half of the openings in his operational area in Beit Hanoun but admitted the possibility of their reconstruction.
He stated, "It’s difficult to determine how many tunnels have been destroyed because they are all interconnected." Like most areas in northern Gaza, the civilian residents of Beit Hanoun fled south on orders from Israel after it deployed its ground forces to the region in an attempt to eliminate Hamas. The officer said, "The only remaining residents are terrorists."
Additionally, he mentioned that the Palestinian militants captured by Israel provided limited information about the tunnel network. He concluded that it could take months to destroy the entire network of tunnels in Gaza, stating, "I believe it’s more complicated than the New York City subway tunnel network."
