Hamas Tunnels Show Future Wars Will Be Fought Underground
Subterranean complexes have been used in combat for millenniums, but terrorist groups and rogue states are creating more sophisticated versions.
An Israeli soldier exits a tunnel near the border with Israel on December 15, 2023, in northern Gaza Strip.
Photographer: Amir Levy/Getty Images
A year into Israel’s fight against Hamas, it has become clear that the military “center of gravity” — the most important element of the conflict — is not the missiles or manpower of the terrorist group. Rather, it is the 400-plus miles of tunnels carved out under the Gaza Strip. From those tunnels, Hamas and its sponsor, Iran, were able to train, equip, organize and launch the horrific attacks of Oct. 7.
The Israel Defense Forces have now publicly released a handbook captured from Hamas in 2019 that details how the group sought to maximize the lethality of capabilities it painstakingly built up underground and out of sight. The group trained forces to fight in the subterranean environment using cover of darkness, night-vision goggles, split-second timing, GPS trackers, elaborate camouflage and protective blast doors. Hamas troops managed to create an entirely different battlefield from the traditional fight above ground.