High-Tech Israeli ‘Weasels’ Go Underground To Battle Hamas

ANALYSIS – Israel’s military has started the next phase of its war in northern Gaza, targeting Hamas’s labyrinth of terror tunnels and underground command structures in an operation that may take months to complete.

Just now it is excavating and investigating the tunnels potentially beneath the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. This, after extensive precision mobbing and other attacks on over 100 tunnel entrances and command posts.

Leading this underground fight are Israeli commandos called ‘Weasels.’

The tunnel system used by the Hamas terrorist is believed to be hundreds of miles long.

The Conversation noted:

Israel says many of the entrances to the tunnels are “hidden between schools, mosques, hospitals and other civilian buildings.” In 2014, Israeli forces even reported finding a tunnel entrance hidden in a washing machine in a Palestinian home.

Hamas fighters have reportedly lined the tunnels with transport rails to move rockets to locations where they can be launched from firing pads concealed by trap doors. Hamas’ tunnelers have also apparently built sleeping areas, ventilation and resupply shafts, medical facilities and command centers. There are also storage areas said to hold food for a siege, fuel, weapons and ammunition – and even areas to manufacture rockets. This advanced tunnel network is all reportedly interconnected by a wired telephone system, and guarded by minesand booby traps.

Hamas hopes its tunnels will compensate for Israel’s overwhelming military superiority, while the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) hopes its technology can transform them from a refuge into a trap. And Israel’s military is using a variety of technology to locate and destroy the tunnels.

Among the technologies Israeli uses are “sponge bombs” which I wrote about here. These contain chemicals that, when mixed, expand into a dense, hard foam, blocking off the tunnel.

The IDF is also using a tactic known as “purple hair.” A smoke grenade is thrown into a tunnel before a sponge bomb seals the entrance. If the trapped smoke wafts out of a nearby building, that suggests it conceals another entrance.

It also employs ground and aerial sensors, drilling equipment, night-vision systems, and radio technologies. I have also written about how the IDF may consider flooding the tunnels with sea water from the Mediterranean.

The National News noted that these technologies will include:

…the small IRIS robot that soldiers call a “throwbot”, with its ability to drive down tunnels relaying pictures back to its operator, using specialist sensors to detect objects and people.

It is also understood that Israel has developed a robot similar to the US Marines’ Gladiator tactical tracked drone that has sensors and carries a 7.62mm squad automatic weapon.The robots will also be able to use their sensors and equipment to find and potentially detonate booby-traps planted by Hamas.

Then there are Israeli killer drones and attack dogs of the IDF’s canine unit, Oketz (‘Sting’). These dogs are likely mostly highly intelligent and aggressive Belgian Malinois favored by British special forces.

The dogs will be able to sniff out explosives, find entrances and attack armed personnel.

But ultimately Israeli soldiers will have to go in to clean out remaining terrorists. And thatjob will be carried out by a commando sub-unit called Samur, the Hebrew word for “weasel.”

These are soldiers who can tolerate the claustrophobic environment inside the tunnels.

They are part of an fighting elite group trained for underground warfare and other subterranean operations known as the Yahalom (‘Diamond’) unit. 

Business Insider reported:

Yahalom is part of the IDF’s Combat Engineering Corps and is made up of different specialized companies that are responsible for tunnel warfare, engineering reconnaissance, explosive ordinance disposal, and unconventional weapons. The unit was created in 1995 and doubled in size after the 2014 Gaza War — known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge — to deal with the growing threat posed by Hamas’ tunnels. 

“The unit’s role includes special sabotage missions, demolition and explosion of buildings, sabotage of enemy infrastructure, handling of explosives, preparing explosive devices and bombs, neutralizing enemy explosive devices, clearing complex minefields, locating and destroying terror tunnels,” the IDF said in 2021. “At times, the unit uses robots and many remote controlled devices, without endangering human life.”

The outlet added that there is a:

…”long and arduous” training program that lasts 16 months and includes education in explosives and demolition, combat engineering training, counterterrorism training, Israeli martial arts training in Krav Maga, and the development of other skills like parachuting and repelling.

These troops train at a mock-up Palestinian city on a military base located in the Negev Desert. They also use virtual reality environments built from digital scans of actual Hamas tunnels discovered by the IDF in previous military operations.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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