2024-09-08 12:13:32
Gaza Strip: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have discovered a railway track inside a tunnel in Gaza. The IDF claimed on Tuesday that its soldiers found a railway track inside a tunnel laid under northern Gaza. The IDF has said that engineering soldiers of the Gaza Division, the North Gaza Brigade and the Yahalom Unit destroyed the tunnel after discovering it. The IDF has continuously exposed Hamas’s tunnel network since the war began in Gaza. Israel believes that Hamas has laid a large network of tunnels under the ground, which has proved very helpful for it in the war.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the IDF said in a statement that since the beginning of the war, its soldiers have been working to neutralize Hamas’ underground infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Soldiers from the Gaza Division’s Engineering Unit and the North Gaza Brigade, in cooperation with the Yahalom Unit, detected and destroyed a Hamas attack underground tunnel in the Beit Lahiya area. The length of the destroyed tunnel is more than a kilometer. This tunnel was detected and investigated over the past few weeks based on intelligence information. The soldiers identified weapons, electrical infrastructure and a transport rail within the tunnel.
IDF also got hold of Hamas’ tunnel handbook
The Israeli army has also got hold of a handbook giving information about Hamas’s tunnel network. This has revealed to the Israeli army the preparations for Hamas’ underground war. The New York Times claimed in a report on Tuesday that a 2019 handbook discovered by IDF soldiers in the Gaza Strip describes how Hamas prepared itself for underground operations in Gaza. The Hamas handbook explains how to work inside underground tunnels. According to the report, the handbook explains that while walking in the dark inside the tunnel, the fighter needs night-vision goggles equipped with infrared. It also tells what precautions the fighters have to take about how to operate weapons within the underground network.
The IDF has dubbed the tunnel network built over several years beneath Gaza as the ‘Hamas Metro’. In its underground city, Hamas stored rockets and other weapons. Within these places, the army has also built bunkers, Hamas command centers, living areas and electrical infrastructure. According to the IDF, billions of dollars have been spent to build this network as it costs $500,000 to build a half-kilometer long tunnel. Since the war began in October last year, the IDF has worked on destroying several hundred kilometers of tunnels.