The military and strategic expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, said that Gaza is the city of spider tunnels, and that the discovery of some of them – as the occupation army revealed – does not mean anything and represents only a small amount due to the multiplicity of their types and tasks, as well as their large number and length.
Al-Duwairi stated – during his military analysis for Tel Aviv Tribune – that it is normal for the occupation army to find some tunnel openings when entering an area after intense bombardment and fire belts.
He continued, asking, “What next? Will the discovered tunnel lead deeper into the tunnel network, or will it be cut off at some point?” Before answering that discovering tunnel mouths does not lead to discovering the Internet in the Gaza Strip.
He continued by explaining that the Israeli army will discover that part of these tunnels is “destroyed.” He expects Palestinian resistance fighters to destroy tunnel mouths when they are certain that they will not provide any operational role. He also expects that any operation to blow up a tunnel mouth “will be followed by an internal explosion.”
However, the military expert explains that if tunnel openings are identified and they are connected to other tunnels, “it will limit the ability of the defending forces to confront and maneuver in the area and narrow their options.”
According to the available information, Al-Duwairi says that there are 1,300 tunnels in the Gaza Strip from Beit Hanoun in the north to Rafah in the south, and that discovering 10 or 100 tunnels does not mean anything.
He added that the length of the Gaza tunnels is estimated at 500 kilometers, based on statements by leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), noting that they are a spider network and some of them are attack tunnels with a specific mission, such as the tunnel discovered near the Beit Hanoun crossing, which was used in the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation.
Regarding the implications of sending an engineering battalion to the Gaza Strip, the military expert explains that the occupation army is trying to discover the tunnel network because it includes the leaders of the Qassam and resistance brigades, “in the hope of reaching large parts of it” within the framework of the military goals it has set for the current war.
It is noteworthy that the occupation army claimed – in a statement – to control a square in the center of Gaza City, “which includes a complex network of tunnels linking hiding apartments, offices, offices and apartments that were inhabited by Hamas officials.”