The Israel Defense Forces announced on Thursday that it had dismantled the main network of Hamas tunnels hidden under Palestine Square in Gaza City.
The military claimed that during the October 7 attack on Israel, Hamas's senior ** Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif hid in an underground passage beneath a bustling commercial plaza.
When the terrorist group launched its onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, Hamas's top rank** was hiding in a network of underground tunnels, according to the military.
The underground network is linked to homes, offices and hideouts of senior Hamas**, including Mohammed Dhif, the elusive leader of the military wing of the terrorist group, and Yahya Sinwar, a senior Hamas senior in Gaza.
It said that the IDF had scanned the interior of the tunnel in recent days and obtained intelligence from them. The military said the dismantling operation was carried out by the elite Yahalom Combat Engineering Unit and the 401st Armored Brigade.
On Tuesday, the IDF showed the square and tunnel entrances, including the Times of Israel.
Palestine Square is located in the upscale Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, an area that was seen as the power center of the enclave elite before the war and is home to the high-ranking terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip. The IDF revealed to journalists participating in the trip that the buzz of Palestinian retail and commercial activity at the center hides the Hamas tunnels used by the terrorist group Senior** to hide from Israel.
The military noted that the penthouse, where the daughter of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh lives, a community college, Hamas** offices and a luxury bridal shop, was once surrounded by a major traffic circle.
The military believes that when the terrorist group launched a terrorist attack on southern Israel on October 7, Hamas senior officials used these silos to hide deep underground.
According to the IDF, the tunnel network has blast doors and living quarters, adding that in some cases, troops operating inside the tunnels have found food and water left behind, indicating plans to hide underground sites for a long time.
In a statement on Wednesday, the military described the complex as an "underground city of terror" with "strategic tunnel routes connected to other important underground infrastructure in the Gaza Strip."
Hamas's vast network of tunnels underground in Gaza has long been one of the world's best-kept secrets, but Israel's ground incursions have revealed its immense and persistent nature. Earlier this month, the military built a tunnel a few dozen meters below northern Gaza, extending at least 4 kilometers towards the Israeli border at the Erez crossing (25 miles), wide enough for a car. A passage found by the military shows Sinwar's brother, senior Hamas Mohammed, cruising through the passage.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday that more than 2,000 Hamas** had been killed since the temporary ceasefire in Gaza ended on December 1. That leaves the military estimating that about 8,000 Hamas fighters have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began. On October 7, 1,000 Hamas*** were killed in an onslaught against terrorist groups in Israel.