“Terrorist city underground”: IDF found the largest Hamas tunnel in the Gaza Strip

Vehicles could move in the Hamas tunnel/Collage 24 Channel

On Sunday, December 17, the Israel Defense Forces discovered the largest Hamas tunnel in history. It was discovered by the military in the north of the Gaza Strip, near the Erez border crossing with Israel.

It is known that the tunnel that reaches about 4 kilometers, in some places it went down to 50 meters underground.As the IDF notes, it is wide enough for vehicles to pass. True, it did not reach the very border.

What is known about the largest tunnel

One of the mines was discovered only 400 meters from the Erez checkpoint. He facilitated the movement of Palestinian civilians to Israel for work before the Hamas offensive on October 7 and for medical assistance.

The IDF said that in the past few weeks, the elite Yahalom combat engineer unit and the Northern Brigade of the Gaza Division have used “advanced intelligence and technological capabilities” to identify the “strategic” tunnel network, scan it and clear it of any potential threats.

The IDF discovered the largest Hamas tunnel in the Gaza Strip: watch the video

As they say in the IDF,the tunnel has several branches and intersections. It is also equipped with running water, electricity and a communication line. And in some parts of the tunnel they found an explosive door, which, according to the military, is designed to prevent the Israeli military from entering.

The width of the tunnel indicates that it was intended to carry out vehicle raids against civilians in the border settlements of Gaza, Colonel Haim Cohen, commander of the Northern Brigade of the Gaza Division, said in a video message.

According to IDF, during the ongoing fighting in Gaza, Hamas carried out several attacks on troops from a network of tunnels. The army added that several days ago the militants were killed inside the tunnel.

As noted by the IDF, the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza provided “much information about the Hamas terrorist tunnel project.”

The Israeli military estimates that Hamas has invested millions of dollars in its tunnel network in the Gaza Strip.

Since the beginning of the war and throughout these days, the IDF has been working to detect and destroying dozens of tunnel routes, as part of the systematic dismantling of Hamas infrastructure, the report said.

During a press conference on Sunday evening, December 17, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari noted that the tunnel was “no ordinary tunnel.” According to him, this is a city. This is “a terrorist city underground that Hamas dug up and built instead of investing money in the people of Gazan.”