The Israeli army launched a statement on Sunday saying it had discovered a Hamas tunnel shaft underneath Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital. It additionally launched footage of tunnels taken on November 17. Here’s what the footage tells us:
What occurred at al-Shifa?
On November 15, Israel launched an aggressive raid on Gaza’s largest medical advanced, al-Shifa Hospital. Lasting for days, the raid was described by Israel as a “precise and targeted” operation to seek out an alleged underground tunnel system that led to a Hamas army management centre.
The allegation that Hamas was working a management centre underneath the hospital was backed by Israeli and United States intelligence. Hamas and medical workers at al-Shifa have denied this allegation.
The Israeli army additionally launched a 3D animated video on October 28, visualising an intensive community of tunnels that led to an elaborate, multi-storey management centre.
What Israel’s new tunnel video tells us
On Sunday, Israel announced {that a} 55-metre-long (180ft), 10-metre-deep (32ft) tunnel was discovered underneath the hospital.
The assertion stated that the tunnel was discovered “in the area of the hospital underneath a shed alongside a vehicle containing numerous weapons including RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades], explosives, and Kalashnikov rifles”.
The Israeli army additionally launched a video that was recorded utilizing two separate cameras on November 17. Spokesperson Daniel Hagari instructed reporters the doorway was uncovered when a army bulldozer knocked down the skin wall of the hospital, revealing a metallic spiral staircase that descended 10m (32ft) and led to a blast door, which is often a metallic door with robust closures and hinges, designed to withstand explosions. Such doorways are normally discovered on amenities equivalent to bomb shelters.
However army analyst Zoran Kusovac quoted a civil engineer from Gaza who recommended that the video is definitely clips of two completely different tunnels spliced collectively.
The primary part of the video exhibits the vertical shaft that goes down. It exhibits options equivalent to load-bearing concrete columns. They appear to be constructed with common civil engineering strategies, which might have required massive and loud machines equivalent to concrete mixers.
Such a building couldn’t have been carried out in secret, the best way Hamas tunnels are normally constructed. The aim of this building stays unknown.
The second a part of the clip exhibits the horizontal tunnel. This shows options attribute of Hamas tunnels — pre-fabricated items linked collectively part by part.
Was a Hamas management centre discovered underneath Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital?
A management centre has not been discovered thus far. Israeli troops haven’t but tried to open the blast door on the finish of the tunnel that they declare was underneath al-Shifa, fearing it might be booby-trapped, stated Hagari.
Kusovac stated that many various kinds of traps may be positioned to forestall tunnel interceptions. Usually, they’re improvised explosive units (IEDs) linked with detonators that may be triggered by tripwire and even mild or stress. They detect the presence of an individual coming into the tunnel, setting off the explosive. “IEDs are basically like toys the big boys make. The more creative you are, the more successful you are,” stated Kusovac.
If armies suspect the presence of such traps, typical laws are to name explosion specialists who arrive and assess the scenario. Kusovac stated that this normally takes a couple of hours, not over a day. This time delay brings the veracity of the Israeli army’s claims into query. “You say smoking gun, you get to it and then you don’t show the smoking gun,” he stated.
CNN, amongst different information shops, visited the uncovered tunnel shaft and confirmed the presence of a tunnel, however couldn’t set up whether or not or not the tunnel led to a command centre.
Does Hamas function underground tunnels?
Tunnels in Gaza have been first built in 1980 at a time when the enclave was underneath Israeli occupation, and earlier than the formation of Hamas in 1987. They have been constructed underneath the Egyptian border for smuggling all types of products, together with weapons, gasoline and black market items.
Over time, Palestinians realised that tunnels may have a army use. The first sign of the army use of tunnels was in 2001 when an Israeli army submit was blown up with an explosive from underground. The tunnels entered Israeli public consciousness when Palestinian fighters emerged from a tunnel shaft and kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006.
Israel positioned a blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas gained management of it in 2007. Tunnels grew to become the means to bypass the siege and to move meals, items and weapons. Underneath Hamas, the tunnels expanded strategically.
The tunnels are additionally utilized by Hamas for wired communications, since Israel can intercept wi-fi communications.
After attacking Gaza in 2014, Israel realised the extent and class of the tunnels, then believed to have surpassed 100km (62 miles).
A tunnel war would entail an entire lot of destruction. The magnitude of explosives could be larger and deadlier than standard as a result of smaller space of the tunnels. For a similar purpose, using common ammunition is likely to be too “clumsy” and therefore unviable.
Al-Shifa will not be the one hospital that Israel has alleged is utilized by Hamas as a army base. On November 8, Al Jazeera’s verification unit Sanad disproved Israel’s declare that there was a Hamas tunnel underneath the Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics, generally often called the Qatari Hospital.
Satellite tv for pc photographs and archival images confirmed that the hatch that Israel claimed was the tunnel entrance was really a part of a water reservoir system that was used to fill therapeutic swimming pools for amputees, water the grounds, and in addition was an emergency water supply.
An Al Jazeera digital investigation discovered no grounds to the Israeli forces declare that there’s a Hamas tunnel underneath Gaza’s Sheikh Hamad Hospital ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/4640OprGwk
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) November 7, 2023
