Fact-checking Israeli Claims about Hamas Tunnel Discovery

After publishing controversial photos of a number of arrested people stripped to underwear last week, whom the Israelis claimed to be Hamas fighters, on Monday, the Israeli army published footage of a tunnel in Gaza, alleging that it discovered the largest tunnel of Hamas. 

According to the statement released by Israeli army, this tunnel was part of a wider network of tunnels that stretches for more than four kilometers and ends about 400 meters from the Beit Hanoun border crossing. This multi-branch tunnel has a complete network of drainage, electricity and ventilation and sewage systems, as well as a communication network and a rail network, and a small vehicle can move through it. According to Israeli forces, the construction of this large tunnel cost millions of dollars and took years. They also believe that the tunnel was built under the supervision of Mohammad Yahya, the brother of Yahya Sinwar, the political head of Hamas in Gaza. 

The Israeli claims come as no media outlets have yet verified the footage of tunnel published by Israeli regime. Some media outlets even reported that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had visited the tunnel two weeks ago and this is not a new discovery as Israeli media trumpeted. 

Last month, the Israeli army occupied Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza and claimed that its basement was the headquarters of Hamas and they discovered Hamas facilities, but later the claims were proven as false. 

Hamas military wing Al-Qassam Brigades immediately after Israel published videos of the tunnel in a largely taunting video addressing the Israelis, saying: “you arrived late.” 

Sky News Arabia in a report on the video that contained another message reading “soon” said that the message may reveal special operation or that the discovered tunnel was dedicated to the Operation Al-Aqsa Storm and the Israelis discovered it too late and only after they sustained massive damages and casualties. 

This Hamas video showed that the resistance fighters had evacuated the tunnel before arrival of the Israeli troops and the Israeli description of the discovery as a triumph was utter propaganda. 

4,000 meter tunnel just tip of Hamas’s labyrinthine hideout 

Netanyahu’s government is trying to sell the discovery of the 4,000-meter tunnel as an achievement and suggest that it has dealt a big blow to Hamas.

On the other hand, attributing the construction of the discovered tunnel to Sinwar’s brother, whom the Israelis are trying to assassinate, is done with the aim of implying that they have done an extraordinary job by discovering this tunnel and they are close to arresting Yahya Sinwar as the architect and mastermind of Hamas’s October 7 operation. But the reality is that this tunnel is only a tip of the complex network of resistance groups’ tunnels, whose length is estimated to be more over 500 kilometers. 

Palestinian underground struggle largely deprives the Israeli army of its technological advantages. The existence of tunnels allows Hamas to choose the location of the battle and, given the wide options it has to set ambush for enemy, it can deal a heavy blow to the occupation forces, as it managed to neutralize tens of Israeli troops in recent ambushes. 

Netanyahu and his cabal brag about so-called gains against the resistance forces while behind the scenes they are bending over the backward to conclude a prisoner deal with Hamas. On Monday, Egyptian sources said that Hamas and Israel welcome a new truce and are preparing lists of prisoners to be released. 

Also, the Israeli Kan network reported that Mossad chief David Barnia held talks with the Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in this regard. These talks come while Netanyahu had pledged that he will not stop the war until Hamas is completely destroyed, but it seems that the heavy losses of the army, which according to the Israeli media left more than 5,000 wounded, have forced the government to take a tough decision. Therefore, if Netanyahu’s government had made any achievement in Gaza, it would not have walked back from its stated goals and would not have pursued a ceasefire with Hamas’ terms. 

Escaping home criticism 

Footage of discovery of Hamas tunnel comes at a time waves of internal pressures are building on Netanyahu cabinet for its war performance. 

Critics say that contrary to the claims of the cabinet, the war in Gaza has achieved nothing but massacre of civilians and destruction, and that Hamas still has the upper hand in the battlefield developments. Therefore, Netanyahu who is under the blade of domestic critics tries to impress the public opinion at home with sham gains by publishing tunnel discovery. 

In the past few days, thousands of Israeli settlers for several weeks in a row protested along with families of prisoners to press Netanyahu for a ceasefire and prisoner swap deal. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the protesters called for immediate return of prisoners.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, the families of the prisoners have held many protests in Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and Tel Aviv and demanded the return of their members held by Hamas, but the Israeli army, instead of responding to the settlers’ request, has so far killed dozens of Israeli prisoners in bombardment and ground operations.

Recently, three Israeli prisoners who were raising white flags and moving to Israeli forces in Gaza were killed by own troops. 

Also, in the latest video released by Hamas of three elderly prisoners, they called for an end to the war. In a message addressing Netanyahu’s government, the Israeli prisoners said: “We don’t want to be victims of airstrikes, we want to be released unconditionally.” 

The video shows a counter containing 1 to 9, and each number shows Israeli prisoners before and after being killed by air force airstrikes in Gaza. The video is seen as a message to Tel Aviv that it cannot liberate its prisoners using force. 

Despite the fact that Gaza is a small and tightly blockaded region, the Israeli army of several hundred thousand forces has failed to locate the prisoners after over 70 days of war. Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari on Sunday admitted that the Israeli forces are exhausted by the war against Hamas, adding that Tel Aviv should secure release of its prisoners through diplomatic channels, otherwise many of them are very likely to be killed. 

In addition to families of prisoners, Israeli officials themselves are severely desperate to see Netanyahu’s war tactics ineffective. Yair Lapid, opposition leader and former PM, in recent days several times questioned Netanyahu’s performance. Accusing Netanyahu of lying about Gaza campaign and the number of troops killed in the battleground, Lapid called for the PM to step down. 

The Israelis know well that there is a wide gap between the reality and claims of their leaders about what is happening on the battleground in Gaza, and, actually, the Israeli occupation forces even have no idea what is going on beneath their feet.