page_title: Palestinian tunnel warfare in the Gaza Strip
section_title: Israel's countermeasures
hierarchical_section_title: Palestinian tunnel warfare in the Gaza Strip / Israel's countermeasures
caption_attribution_description: עברית: פיר מנהרת הטרור שנחשפה ב-10 בדצמבר 2017 בין קיבוץ כיסופים וקיבוץ נירים, סמוך לרצועת עזה בצד הישראלי של הגבול ynet English: Palestinian tunnel that was uncovered on December 10, 2017, in Israeli side of the border between kibbitz Kissufim and Kibbutz Nirim, located adjacent to the Gaza Strip. The tunnel was over 1 km away from either community. The Jerusalem post
context_page_description: Hamas, the governing authority in the Gaza Strip, has constructed a sophisticated network of military tunnels since it seized control of the Strip in 2007. The tunnel system branches beneath many Gazan towns and cities, such as Khan Yunis, Jabalia and the Shati refugee camp. The internal tunnels, running some dozens of kilometres within the Gaza Strip, have several functions. Hamas uses the tunnels to hide its arsenal of rocketry underground, to facilitate communication, to permit munition stocks to be hidden and to conceal militants, making detection from the air difficult. Hamas leader Khalid Meshal has said in an interview with Vanity Fair that their tunnel system is a defensive structure designed to place obstacles against Israel's powerful military arsenal, to protect its people, and engage in counter-strikes against the IDF when Gaza is attacked, and that it has never caused the death of civilians, being safer than their system of unguidable missiles which are not intended to threaten civilians but strike indiscriminately.
  The cross-border tunnels were used in the capture of Gilad Shalit in 2006, and multiple times during the 2014 conflict.
context_section_description: According to Israel, between January and October 2013, three tunnels under the border were identified, two of which were packed with explosives. On 11 August 2014 the IDF announced they had successfully tested a system that could be used to detect these tunnels. This new system uses a combination of sensors and special transmitters to locate tunnels. The IDF expects development to cost up to NIS 1.5 billion, and could be deployed within the year.
  In the summer of 2017, Israel began the construction of a border wall which stretched several meters underground to counter tunnel assaults.The structure is equipped with sensors to detect future tunnel construction. Concrete for the structure was produced using five concrete factories dedicated to the project and about 10 meters was completed daily. The structure was placed entirely on Israeli land.
  On 30 October 2017 Israeli forces destroyed a tunnel that crossed the Gaza border into Israeli territory. Twelve Palestinians, including ten members of Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine and two Hamas militants, were killed in the blast and subsequent rescue efforts. The most senior person killed was Brigade Commander Arafat Marshood of Islamic Jihad's al-Quds Brigades. On 10 December 2017 Israeli forces destroyed an additional tunnel that crossed the border.
  In January 2018, following the destruction of an attack tunnel from Gaza that crossed into Egypt and Israel, IDF Major General Yoav Mordechai, speaking in Arabic, said, "I want to send a message to everyone who is digging or gets too close to the tunnels: As you’ve seen in the past two months, these tunnels bring only death," referring to Hamas tunnels that had recently been destroyed by Israel. Major General Eyal Zamir stated that more Hamas tunnels into Israel would be destroyed as the construction of a barrier around the Gaza will soon be completed.
  In April 2018, the Israeli military announced it had disabled a tunnel that stretched kilometers into Gaza, near Jabalia, and reached several meters into Israel, towards Nahal Oz. No exit had yet been built on the Israeli side. For the first time, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a naval tunnel belonging to Hamas in June 2018. In August the Israeli Ministry of Defense released the first pictures of an underwater barrier with Gaza designed to prevent Hamas infiltrations by sea. Construction of the barrier started two months before and is expected to be completed by the end of the year, stretching two hundred meters into the Mediterranean.
caption: Palestinian tunnel that was uncovered on 10 December 2017, in Israeli side of the border between kibbitz Kissufim and Kibbutz Nirim (but over 1 km from either community).[51]
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