JERUSALEM, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Israeli forces have discovered 800 shafts main to Hamas’ huge subterranean community of tunnels and bunkers since a Gaza floor operation started on Oct 27, and have destroyed greater than half of them, the army mentioned on Sunday.
The Palestinian Islamist group mentioned earlier than the now eight-week-old battle within the Gaza Strip that it had lots of of kilometres of tunnels – a community comparable in measurement to the New York subway system – to shield and function operational bases.
That has made them prime targets for Israeli air strikes with penetrating munitions and military engineers utilizing mapping robots and exploding gel that may be poured into the passages.
[1/4]An Israeli soldier walks by way of a tunnel beneath Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, amid the continued floor operation of the Israeli military in opposition to Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, within the northern Gaza Strip, November 22, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
“The tunnel shafts were located in civilian areas, many of which were near or inside civilian buildings and structures, such as schools, kindergartens, mosques and playgrounds,” the army mentioned in a press release on Sunday.
The assertion, summarising anti-tunnel operations to date, adopted near-daily accounts to the media by troops who mentioned they uncovered entry shafts in civilian websites.
The battle’s civilian toll has more and more frightened world powers. Washington urged Israel to use warning on Saturday.
Of some 800 shafts found, the army mentioned, 500 had been destroyed utilizing quite a lot of operational strategies, together with by “detonation and by sealing off”. It added that “many miles” of essential tunnel routes had additionally been destroyed.
Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Angus MacSwan
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.