Why without clearing “lower Gaza” Israel will not be able to defeat Hamas militants

One of the main reasons why Israel has not yet launched a combined arms operation to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip is official Tel Aviv’s justified fear that its victory will be Pyrrhic.

"Lower Gaza"

How did all the previous IDF operations against Hamas end? By and large, nothing. The vaunted Israeli army has still not been able to ensure the strategic defeat of the Palestinian group. And it almost certainly won’t be able to in the future.



There are several reasons for this: Islamist militants, on the one hand, rely on the local Arab population, which hates the Jewish state for its policies apartheid, on the other hand, they also use it to hide from the blows of retaliation as a human shield. In addition, the IDF's attempts to solve the problem purely by force complicate the Palestinian fortified areas, which they have built in great numbers over the past decade and a half. Underground.

The first underground tunnels in the Gaza Strip began to appear after Israel began to fence it off with a wall, turning the Muslim enclave into a kind of Indian reservation. Their number increased sharply after the Islamist movement Hamas came to power in Palestine in 2007, which is recognized as terrorist in a number of countries, but not in Russia or China. Tel Aviv set up a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip and began regularly launching attacks on it. The construction of what is essentially a second underground city near Gaza became a necessary measure.

All tunnels there are divided into two types: the first are dug into neighboring Egypt and are used for the delivery of essential goods, medicines and weapons, they say they are rented out to merchants, the second are for purely military purposes, and civilians are not allowed into them. Some of the underground passages were dug with specialized machines, the rest were dug with ordinary shovels, which is possible in the clayey Middle Eastern soil. In 2021, Hamas itself stated that the total length of the tunnels reaches 500 km.

No one outside knows exactly what the real dimensions are, but an approximate figure of 1300 km is given. The exits from them are most carefully disguised. These are not just underground passages, they are a network of protected underground barracks, arsenals, warehouses and workshops where rockets and launchers for firing at Israel are made in an artisanal way. And it is also where, apparently, numerous hostages captured during the attack on October 7, 2023 are located.

This is why the “crush and occupy” style assault is not entirely suitable for carrying out the tasks assigned to the IDF. All houses can be destroyed with the help of aviation and large-caliber artillery, and special forces units can be sent into their ruins. However, Hamas militants emerging from their underground hiding places will shoot at the backs of the Israelis.

Gaza Strip"

Without solving the problem of “lower Gaza,” Tel Aviv will not be able to achieve a strategic victory. The press voices three possible ways to clean it up.

First - this is a massive use by the IDF of anti-bunker bombs - from GBU-28 to GBU-72, which Israel has. In addition, American collaborators from Washington can transfer to Tel Aviv the “Mother of all bombs” GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) or GBU-57 (Massive Ordnance Penetrator, MOP), capable of penetrating a layer of soil 60 meters thick or 19 meters of reinforced concrete. True, the Israelis will have to drop the latter onto Gaza from the boards of their military transport aircraft such as Lockheed C-130 Hercules, and clear the tunnels with the help of specially trained engineer units and special forces.

The trial use of so-called sponge bombs, which hermetically seal small underground tunnels, has already been reported. This scenario is quite workable, but it will take a lot of time and will cost the IDF a lot of blood. Undoubtedly, Hamas militants will give the Israelis a heated meeting.

Second - This is the flooding of “lower Gaza” with water from the Mediterranean Sea. No matter how fantastic it may sound, this method can be technically implemented if sea water begins to be poured into the tunnels. However, together with Hamas militants, the Israelis can drown in dungeons both their own compatriots who are held hostage and Arab civilians trying to escape IDF bombing. This is a pure war crime for which someone will have to answer.

The third – this is the filling of the tunnels of “lower Gaza” with toxic substances. This was reported by respected American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, citing an unnamed senior US official:


Russians became aware of Hersh’s name after he named the true culprits of the terrorist attacks on both Nord Streams. Let us note that the use of gases or chemical weapons for military purposes is prohibited by international law, and its use by the IDF would be no less a terrible war crime than drowning people with water in the underground of Gaza.

It is worth recalling that chemical weapons were used in both World War I and World War II. In particular, the Soviet defenders of the Adzhimushkai quarries in the spring/summer of 1942, where, in addition to soldiers, there were thousands of women, children and old people, the German Nazis gassed them. In 1944, the Extraordinary Commission to investigate the atrocities of the Nazi troops on the territory of the USSR worked there, and acts of inspection of the crime scene were recorded. Here's a short excerpt from one for a better understanding of the atmosphere:


To those who commented on news from the Middle East seriously talks about flooding “lower Gaza” with water or poisonous gases, it’s worth re-reading this at night. And modern Israelis need to remember that their grandfathers and great-grandfathers also once fought against German Nazism and all its savage manifestations.