Tunnels from Hamas leaders' homes found under Gaza City, Israel military says
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Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes in Gaza City, as seen from Al Nusairat refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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JERUSALEM - Israeli forces uncovered a network of tunnels running deep beneath central Gaza City from properties registered to Yahya Sinwar and other senior Hamas organisers of the Oct 7 attacks on Israel, the military said on Dec 20.
The tunnels were found when soldiers secured a central area of the city in recent days, spokesman Peter Lerner told reporters.
Accessed by spiral staircases and an elevator up to 20m below ground, the tunnels were kitted out with electricity, plumbing, surveillance cameras and heavy blast doors, according to images shared with reporters by the military.
"This complex, both above and below ground, was a centre of power for Hamas' military and political wings," Lieutenant-Colonel Lerner said.
Reuters could not independently verify the information provided.
The tunnels were used by senior Hamas officials including Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Muhammad Deif to direct operations and for "protected daily movement" through the heart of Gaza City, the military said in a statement.
Israeli accuses the militant group of deliberately locating tunnels and other military infrastructure among civilians whom it uses as human shields.
Hamas, which rejects the accusation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sinwar and Deif are believed to be the masterminds behind the Hamas-led Oct 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people
Israel has the stated goal of destroying Hamas and rescuing more than 130 people still held hostage by the Palestinian Islamist militants.
Israel has yet to find the leaders, despite taking control of some parts of Gaza. Israel's intense air and ground campaign has injured more than 50,000 people and laid waste to much of the coastal enclave.
Hamas has long boasted that its tunnel network is hundreds of kilometres long. Some shafts are to 80m deep and were described by one freed hostage as "a spider's web".
The group's tunnels beneath the sandy 360 sq km coastal strip and its borders include attack, smuggling, storage and operational burrows, Western and Middle East sources familiar with the matter have said.
Earlier this week, Israel said it uncovered an unusually large concrete and iron-girded tunnel
