Ceasefire, the Zionist regime’s preferred opportunity to destroy Hamas tunnels.
For most of the year, a few hundred Hamas fighters have maintained their fighting positions in the tunnels beneath southern Gaza. But the walls of the enclave are getting tighter.
A U.S.-brokered ceasefire in October left the Palestinian fighters on the wrong side of the dividing line between Hamas and Israeli-controlled areas of the enclave. Arab and Israeli military intelligence officials briefed on the fighters’ plight said they were running out of food, especially water. And with the return of hostages and the bodies of all but one of the hostages killed by Hamas, the regime has a freer hand to destroy the tunnels in search of its targets.
Israeli forces are mapping the tunnels east of Rafah, where the local Hamas brigade is trapped, according to Israeli military statements, according to the Wall Street Journal. Israel estimates that there were between 100 and 200 fighters in the tunnels when the ceasefire began in October. Hamas officials have said in public statements that between 60 and 80 fighters are still holed up there. A senior Israeli military official said that in some areas, Israel is flooding the tunnels with water to flush out trapped fighters.
The result is a desperate struggle in which fighters face the choice of dying in the tunnels or making a dangerous escape into Hamas-controlled territory. It is a battle to the death that continues even as hostilities have largely ceased or moderated elsewhere.