Free Republic

Israel claims to have found about 50 cross-border tunnels underneath the boundary between Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, and Egypt — tunnels that could have been used by Hamas terrorists to smuggle in weapons to use against Israel. The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies noted on Friday: Israel went public on May 17 with the discovery of 50 smuggling tunnels leading from the southern Gazan city of Rafah to Egypt. Defending Israel against South African-filed genocide allegations at the International Court of Justice, attorney Gilad Noam devoted part of his remarks to the ongoing military operation in Rafah, a...

Juuuussssttttt spitballin' here, but it certainly seems like we have an answer for Egypt's extraordinary pissiniss about Israel's plans to clear out Rafah.I have to admit, this was the favored line of thinking over the past few weeks as the Biden administration sabotaged every Israeli move, and the Egyptians blustered and threatened. Almost to a one, folks weren't at all fooled. They were asking, "What is Egypt worried the Israelis are going to find?"Well, hiya.Nearly 700 tunnel shafts have been identified in Rafah, with ~50 tunnels crossing into Egypt, revealed @DrGiladNoam at today's sham @CIJ_ICJ hearing.Those tunnels are used to...

Biden administration officials are said to be offering Israel exact locations of Hamas leaders in a bid to stop the IDF invading the Gazan city of Rafah. The president has reportedly offered highly-classified information that also includes the locations of Hamas' secret tunnels to try and stave-off what he fears could be a humanitarian catastrophe. The detailed and sensitive talks serve to illustrate the stakes facing Israel and the U.S. Rafah is the last city in Gaza that has not been bombed by Israel. According to the Washington Post, the U.S. is also proposing to assist in the construction of...

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited northern Gaza today (Thursday) and commented on the IDF's readiness to engage in an operation in Hamas' last stronghold in Rafah. “We are closing in on Hamas. We are preparing to act in Rafah, as well as in the central camps, in order to reach the next stage which we will decide according to our priorities,” Gallant said. He added, “We use the information we captured from the Hamas archives. There are huge amounts of information that we brought from the places we reached, computers, hard drives, servers and other things. All this information is...

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini on Saturday night responded to the revelation of the terror tunnels under UNRWA's main headquarters in Gaza. In a series of bullet points posted on X, formerly Twitter, Lazzarini claimed, "UNRWA did not know what is under its headquarters in Gaza." "UNRWA is made aware of reports through the media regarding a tunnel under the UNRWA Headquarters in Gaza. "UNRWA staff left its headquarters in Gaza City on 12 October following the Israeli evacuation orders and as bombardment intensified in the area. We have not used that compound since we left it nor are we aware...

Israeli Defence Forces have discovered a kilometre-long, booby-trapped tunnel where Hamas is said to have kept about 20 hostages. At the end of the tunnel were cramped cells where the captives were held – five narrow rooms behind metal bars. Toilets, mattresses and even drawings by a child hostage freed in November were found, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said. The military released photos from the underground labyrinth and said it brought in journalists to document the tunnel before it was destroyed. The tunnel entrance, Mr Hagari said, was in the house of a Hamas member in the southern...

More information has been revealed about the secret Jewish tunnels dug under the Chabad Lubavitch Center in NYC. The Crown Heights, Brooklyn facility is a world-famous landmark for Jews.

Hamas “used more than 6,000 tons of concrete and 1,800 tons of metal to build hundreds of miles of underground infrastructure.” While the existence of what Israelis refer to as the “Gaza Metro,” which Palestinians call “Lower Gaza,” has been well known about for years, with Hamas leaders even boasting about it, the question remains how, in one of the world’s most poverty-stricken territories, which relies largely on aid from U.N. agencies, regional and Western powers, the terror group had the financial means to invest in such an intricate and expansive terror tunnel network. As the governing body in Gaza,...

Authorities discovered underground tunnels built into Orthodox Jewish buildings in New York City. Roughly 20,000 people reportedly live there and the tunnel system was built illegally in response to pandemic restrictions. Police forced people out and arrested at least 10 people. What is this about?

Currently, numerous law enforcementare at the scene of a riot at the Chabad headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where individuals tore wooden panels to prevent a cement truck from sealing off the recently discovered tunnels. Police intervened by ripping wooden panels to thwart the cement truck's actions. The underground tunnels, secretly built by a group, including members of the Jewish community, about 6 months ago in an attempt to expand the iconic synagogue, were the focal point. Despite police intervention, numerous people refused to vacate the tunnels, leading to the arrest of at least ten individuals after a scuffle with...

Archaeologists working in China recently revealed a series of extensive underground tunnels believed to be thousands of years old. Researchers working at the ancient stone city of Houchengzui, northern China (Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region), uncovered the extensive network of tunnels thought to be at least 4,300 years old, according to Heritage Daily. The oval-shaped Neolithic city is roughly 341 acres across and home to ancient transportation and defensive networks. Only six underground tunnel passages have been discovered so far, each between 1.5 and 6 meters depth... They’re also around 1 to 2 meters high, and 1.5 meters wide. Extensive tunnel...

Israel released a video on Sunday showing an expansive multi-level tunnel system. Inside were the bodies of five hostages who had already been murdered by Hamas. The tunnels were found in Jabilaya, which the international community insists is a "refugee camp." In reality, it's a built-up area that has served as a military stronghold for Hamas. Scans revealed the structures under the "camp," leading specialized IDF combat engineer squads to the deceased hostages. The IDF reveals a large Hamas tunnel network in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya camp, where the bodies of five Israeli hostages were recovered earlier this month.Troops of the...

Military asserts that senior Hamas officials Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif hid in underground passages just below bustling commercial square during October 7 assault on Israel The IDF announced on Thursday that it had demolished a major Hamas tunnel network hidden under Gaza City’s Palestine Square. According to the military, Hamas’s most senior officials hid underground in the tunnel network when the terror group launched its October 7 onslaught on southern Israel. The underground network connected to the homes, offices and hideout apartments of senior Hamas officials, including Muhammad Deif, the elusive leader of the terror group’s military wing, and...

Yehuda Kfir, an expert in underground warfare, says the IDF can’t keep bombing buildings and infrastructure to locate Hamas’s tunnels: ‘We need to dig from our side to theirs’ This week, the Israel Defense Forces publicized what it said was the biggest Hamas terror tunnel uncovered to date, built under the stewardship of Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar’s brother Muhammad in the northern Gaza Strip, near the Erez Crossing into Israel. The IDF didn’t specify if and how the tunnel was utilized during Hamas’s October 7 massacre, when its terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people in southern Israel. But since it extends...

New report says Israel has conducted initial tests and begun to fill Hamas's underground tunnels with water from the Mediterranean Sea. The Israeli military has begun pumping water from the Mediterranean Sea into Hamas' tunnel network, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, quoting US officials familiar with the operations. The move, still in its early stages, is one of several techniques Israel is using in its operation to eliminate the Hamas terror group. A spokesperson for Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud) declined to comment to WSJ, telling the news outlet that "tunnel operations are classified." The Wall Street Journal...

Kfir Brigade fighters were confronted by a terrorist squad near a school in Shejaia, in Gaza City. Fighters engaged in a firefight and killed the terrorists, continuing a search within the nearby school. There, the IDF uncovered several weapons in the stockpile. Kalashnikov-type weapons, AK-47 rifles, grenades, and ammunition were found inside the classrooms. A paratrooper brigade combat team located and destroyed a major tunnel shaft that was part of a large route of tunnels. Another tunnel was storing weapons and was complete with an elevator, according to the IDF. Fighters from the 5th Brigade launched an attack in Beit...

Despite overwhelming military superiority, Israel is struggling to develop an effective strategy to tackle the tunnel network under Gaza. This "underworld" has provided Hamas with a degree of sanctuary beyond the gaze of satellites, drones and military forces. How will Israel defeat Hamas without destroying the tunnel network? The "Gaza metro" is bigger in scale than the London Underground network. Many of the tunnels were originally dug in the early 1980s to bypass the border between Egypt and Rafah, enabling the illegal smuggling of trade and weapons. However, they have since been expanded into two further categories: defensive and offensive....

Russia said that reports of proposals to flood the tunnels were shocking and warned that "if done, this will be a war crime." "Such flooding could be considered analogous to 'do not spare them' order, but it is not only about that and not only about civilians who may be in those tunnels," the statement read. "Of course, there most likely will be civilians, for where else would they go from the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza." Over the last two months, Russia has repeatedly condemned Israel's actions in Gaza, with Vladimir Putin initially blaming the Hamas attacks in Israel as...

Israel is pumping sea water into Hamas tunnels in Gaza to flush the terrorists out

Israel is said to have completed installing at least five pumps about a mile north of the Al-Shati refugee camp that could move thousands of cubic metres of water per hour - meaning they could flood the 300-mile network of tunnels within weeks. Their plan would be to drive out the terrorists from the tunnels and make them inoperable by flooding the system with seawater from the Mediterranean Sea. And now, images released by the IDF appear to show scores of Israeli soldiers setting up a series of black pipes on the sandy beaches of Gaza. Video shared by Israeli...