ANALYSIS – As the far-left, and even some on the right – again, I'm talking about you, Tucker Carlson – clamor about Israel's alleged war crimes in attacking Gaza-based Hamas terrorists, most ignore how these Islamist monsters have fortified this small strip housing 2.3 million people.
This is war and Hamas has turned the entire zone into both a fortress and one giant human shield.
Gaza is one of the world's most densely populated areas. It is also one of the most fortified, with a maze of complex tunnels underneath much of the area. Locals call this maze the Gaza Metro (aka subway).
It is like an underground city for Hamas terrorists.
Dr. Matthew Levitt, a counter-terror expert from The Washington Institute who has seen the tunnels, describes the underground system in The U.S. Sun as: “a series of intricate tunnels, not small tunnels. You can even go online and see videos of militants driving motorcycles through them.”
“With multiple turnoffs, different places that are intended to be able to move people and weaponry, store weaponry, outside of the view of Israeli overhead surveillance,” he added.
Hidden up to 100 feet below the surface, they are sophisticated and expensive, with “steel, reinforced doors” and heavily booby-trapped, he added. Recently released hostages said they walked miles underground through the web of Hamas tunnels.
In 2021, Hamas claimed to have dug 311 miles worth of tunnels.
These terrorists use civilian structures to hide entrances to their tunnels, as well as to hide and shield weapons depots and missile sites. Both Hamas and their Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) allies fire their rockets at Israel from near Gaza schools, homes, hospitals and mosques to lessen Israeli retaliation.
This is how one errant PIJ rocket fired from a cemetery exploded next to a Gaza hospital but was blamed falsely on Israel.
This is also what Israel is facing in its campaign to destroy Hamas and explains the extensive Israeli bombings of targets in Gaza prior to any major ground incursion.
Jonathan Conricus, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman, said in The U.S. Sun: “Think of the Gaza Strip as one layer for civilians and then another layer for Hamas.”
“We are trying to get to that second layer that Hamas has built.”
The U.S. Sun reported that Dr. Daphné Richemond-Barak, an expert on underground warfare who teaches at Israel's Reichman University, said Hamas militants “perfected the art” of tunnel building and have had plenty of time to booby-trap the entire network.
Beyond that she was quoted as saying:
“They could kidnap [the soldiers in surprise attacks]. And then you have all the other risks – running out of oxygen, fighting the enemy in one-on-one combat, and rescuing wounded soldiers becomes virtually impossible.
“Even if you don't go inside the tunnel, to secure an area where you suspect that tunnels might be present is very different from just securing an area in general.”
“Here, you have to secure something that is invisible.”
In addition to creating this dangerous and deadly tunnel labyrinth, Hamas has, since taking control of the strip in 2006, built up a sizable military force trained and equipped by Iran.
They aren't only bands of terrorists, “They are a mini-army,” said a source close to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
He said the group even had a military academy teaching a myriad of military subjects, including cyber security. Hamas also boasts a naval commando unit among its 40,000-strong military wing. In contrast to now, in the 1990s, Hamas had fewer than 10,000 fighters, according to globalsecurity.org.
Dr. Levitt believes it is possible to destroy Hamas' underground terror army but warns it “will come with a severe cost” for Israel.
Other military experts, including Americans with recent urban warfare experience in Iraq, have also predicted that any major operation against heavily armed Hamas terrorists could cost hundreds of Israeli lives.
Hammering Hamas military targets first with air, drone and missile strikes, as we would also do in a similar situation, is the only way to lessen the number of Israeli soldiers lost once they enter.
Unlike Hamas, Israelis aren't targeting civilians.
Tragically, though, Hamas intentionally made it impossible not to have civilians killed as collateral damage. They did this. Not Israel.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
READ NEXT: Bounties Offered For Border Patrol Agents
