By Chuck Warren
If you thought that urban warfare was difficult, try sub-urban warfare. No, not suburbs in the outskirts of a city, but tunnels beneath one. As the ground invasion of Gaza has started, Israel has to recon with Palestinian tunnels underneath Gaza reaching Israeli towns.
This is hardly a novel strategy. The first recorded instance of tunnel warfare dates back nearly 3,000 years ago. Since, besieged cities have often used tunnels to bypass the fortifications of a much stronger military and make surprise attacks. It is not a surprise that Hamas is also using this deadly and stealth strategy.
During the 2014 conflict, Israel discovered more than 60 miles of tunnels that made Israel vulnerable. Subsequently, Israel destroyed some of this network. But Israel couldn’t destroy all of it. That would have required too large an operation with too many casualties on both sides. Since then, Hamas has rebuilt its tunnel web, with the Associated Press reporting that “Yehia Sinwar, Hamas' political leader, claimed in 2021 that the militant group had 500 kilometers (310 miles) of tunnels. The Gaza Strip itself is only some 360 square kilometers (140 square miles), roughly twice the size of Washington, D.C.”
Thus, Israel is faced with a big dilemma: How to fight a tunnel war?
Destroying the tunnels poses several challenges.
First, it could cause the collapse of the urban infrastructure above them. This means both massive civilian casualties and a Gaza left practically unlivable. Setting aside Israel’s moral considerations for everyday Gazans, this will also leave Gaza ungovernable once the war is over and increase the likelihood of Hamas or a likeminded group to overtake the government in Gaza.
Second, many of the hostages Israel wishes to rescue are held in these tunnels, and destroying them would kill them too. Jewish law mandates that the government must do whatever it can to rescue a hostage, and while the Israeli government might consider stepping out of this religious mandate over war necessities, it still cannot step too far out of it.
Third, destroying these tunnels is itself a difficult task. Destroying miles of tunnels is no easy mission, and the engineering and military questions alone are difficult to answer, especially since Israel might not have an accurate map of these tunnels.
The alternative is fighting in the tunnels—or on the ground. Hamas knows the map of these tunnels, and this gives them an advantage in ambushing Israeli squads fighting underneath the ground. Above the ground, too, there are already reports of ambushes, as Hamas fighters jump out and attack Israelis unexpectedly.
Another option is closing their access to the ground and destroying joint points underneath to destroy it as a web. This also means abandoning the hostages. And while it will be a patch for some time, leaving the infrastructure intact means that Hamas—or any terrorist group that might emerge in Gaza—will be able to repair them. It will take years, but it won’t take forever.
Israel is not facing any good options. The option that will leave it most secure requires abandoning Jewish law and risking severe civilian casualties and anarchy in Gaza. The option with the best long-term outcome is fighting in the tunnels and destroying them from the inside with considerations for leaving the infrastructure above intact. But this is extremely expensive—financially and more importantly in blood.
Hamas's tunnel strategy took into account the challenges it posed for Israel. It also provided an additional layer of protection for their tactical operation centers. Israel can no longer easily destroy Hamas's military sites with airstrikes while being confident that the strikes have succeeded. Military planning and the preservation of materiel have become much easier. Hamas has moved military necessities, including water, fuel, food, weapons, personnel, and munitions, to these tunnels to shield them from Israeli attacks.
Money is fungible. Decades of aid to Gaza directly and indirectly through cash to the Islamic Republic of Iran has enriched Hamas to build these tunnels. Even if every cent of the U.S. and other foreign aids went to humanitarian causes—newsflash: it doesn’t—every cent foreign aid spends on civilian Gazans is a cent that Hamas doesn’t have to spend on its citizens and can instead dig a tunnel with. You can blame consecutive Israeli governments for missing the threat from Gaza—in fact, every Israeli does—but you can also blame foreign governments, including the United States, for sending Hamas the rope it is now using to hang Israelis with.
Tunnel warfare will be extremely costly for both sides, and the more Israel tries to minimize civilian casualties, the more it will have to sacrifice its own citizens in this war. When Israel is done with the job, Gaza might be an entirely different city.
All the left-wing NGOs and governments that indirectly created this problem will have the audacity to blame Israel for the destruction in Gaza, but they share a massive portion of the blame themselves.
Those who support the Middle East’s only democracy owe the Israelis two things:
First, we need to clearly explain the challenges of tunnel warfare to the public and remind the Israeli critics that this is a mess they helped create. De-arming and nullifying these tunnels is a herculean and gruesome task.
Second, we need to repeatedly remind our elected officials that Israel should be given the right to continue the war if it needs to destroy these tunnels so it can live in peace again. The tunnels not only endanger Israel’s security and populace, but the resulting eye-for-an-eye military response endangers and kills Palestinian women and children.
Finally, if Hamas (doubtful), the people of Gaza, and their international allies want peace – which every human being should desire – Hamas must give up the tunnels. There are many elements to reaching peace; however, providing a thorough map of the tunnels and their destruction must be part of any peace agreement.
Note: the opinions expressed herein are those of Chuck Warren only and not his co-host Sam Stone or Breaking Battlegrounds’ staff.