Israel-Hamas War: What happened on Day 75?

The IDF has seized control of a secret underground web of tunnels which both served as a bunker for the top Hamas leadership and as a transportation route to above-ground sites in and around Palestine Square in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood and in Gaza City itself.

“This is a city that exists on two levels, one above ground and one underneath,” Commander of the 401st Brigade, Major-General Beni Aharon told reporters, and the battle for it also takes place in both arenas.

Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, Muhammad Deif used this network to manage the organization’s operation and movement through the heart of Gaza City, said the army, which has nicknamed the area “Commander’s Square.”

Using the tunnels for movement 

They could also travel around through the tunnels, hide for a prolonged period if needed, or escape, the army explained.

“Hamas took enough generators and solar panels from civilians so that they could survive down there for months and even weeks,” Aharon said.

The Square was located between a high-class residential area, that includes a college, a hotel, a school for the deaf, and a fancy bridal shop.

IDF uncovers secret underground Hamas tunnels in Palestine Square (credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)

Deputy Commander of the 401st Brigade, Lt. Col. Ido, whose full name can’t be used said, “From outside everything looks normal, everything looks like a normal city.”

A short distance away from the two schools, but in the square itself, the IDF uncovered two tunnel shafts and a tunnel-making workshop, which they showed to reporters on Tuesday afternoon, but they did not take them into the tunnels themselves.

The IDF also released to the media videos detailing their find, with shots of the underground tunnels, including one that led from a home of Sinwar’s in the square, in which a spiral staircase could bring him directly down into a concrete corridor, complete with electricity.

The tunnels were discovered under property owned by Sinwar and Haniyeh, and allowed for Hamas leaders to travel from home to the office and to other places within the city, the army explained.

What was found in the tunnels?

One office, now filled with debris, that the army showed reporters, is believed to have been used by Deif, with officers speculating that a wheelchair found in that room, could have been his.

The tunnels had electricity, water, phones, food, solar panels, security cameras, as well as rooms, including one that was 150 meters big. Arms were also found including rockets, RPGs and nighttime equipment.

An elevator was also found leading into a tunnel, used almost exclusively by Hamas leadership, the army explained.
Ido said that right off the square, which had been booby-trapped when they arrived. They also found a workshop for building tunnels.

“There are posters of instructions of how to build, when to do, what to do. You can see all around here cement and concrete and equipment for building the tunnel inside,” Ido said as he pointed to concrete slabs. “All these are the walls for the tunnel which are taken down with a high lift into the tunnels,” Ido said.

In the Square’s center had been a monument to Hamas’ successful attack against an IDF armored personnel carrier during the 2014 Gaza war, also known as Operation Protective Edge, in which seven soldiers were killed. This includes Oron Shaul, whose body has since been held by Hamas along with that of Hadar Goldin, also killed in that war.

It is also the place where some of the hostages were initially released, shots that were shown on Israeli television, in which the Square was filled with Palestinians.

Earlier this week, the IDF destroyed the monument.

The army seized the tunnels and the square thanks to the work of the 162nd Division’s 401st Brigade, which worked together with the Shaldag Unit and the 13th Squadron, which had also helped fight to secure the square from Hamas terrorists these last week, gaining almost complete control of it in the last few days.

The IDF estimates that it killed some 600 Hamas terrorists during that battle.

The square after the IDF attack

On Tuesday, when reporters arrived, the square was one large empty dustbowl of brown dirt, with a mound in the center.

On top of that mound was a flagpole, from which fluttered a large Israeli flag. Next to it was a large Hanukkah menorah, which was left standing, even though the holiday was last week.

“We arrived here before the first night of Hanukkah and in a tearful ceremony, we remembered those who had fallen and everything that we endured to get here and we lit the first candle,” Aharon said.

He added that he also loved the flag, which “has become a symbol of hope” and as “type of magic.”

Some of the buildings, such as the college and the school for the deaf were standing, but damaged, and others were reduced to rubble so that a ring of destruction also surrounded the square.

Reporters entered Gaza through a coastal road, first in a jeep, open in the back so that one could see how the road leading to Gaza City, and indeed every section of the city itself that reporters saw, had only destroyed, partially destroyed or damaged buildings.

At what soldiers called “the blue beach” which had been a resort, pagodas were partially destroyed and debris littered the sand.

From there they transferred to an armored vehicle with three soldiers at the helm, two of whom Elad and Deny explained how they had been in Gaza almost from the start, with little radio or telephone contact, including with their families.

One of them Elad, had a child’s drawing pasted to the top of the vehicle, with solider and blue stars next to it and the words “take care of yourselves” written out.

Elad said he received the picture in a care package and didn’t know who the child was, but he had placed it on top of the vehicle to remind him “why we are here and what we are fighting for.”

At the Square itself, much like the road leading up to it, there were no Palestinians in sight, and it seemed as if the city had become on strange ghost town, inhabited only by soldiers and journalists.

In one of the buildings journalists were taken into, soldiers had taken over apartments, which were still partially or livable. In one living room, they had placed mattresses on the floor. In another, they had set up a command center around a large fancy dining table, pasting a wall size Google type map on the wall, which they had found in a nearby office.

It was clear from the furniture and the tiles and hallway decor that the building had been modern, with expensive furniture, akin to what one could find in Tel Aviv or any other Middle Eastern city.

Aharon said that the terrain for the soldiers was no longer that of a civilian city, but one of combat.

During the time the group was there, three firefights broke out within a few block's radius, during which the IDF exploded the buildings, such that dust or flames and clouds of black smoke rose from them. Gun shoots and explosions could be heard in the distance.

The IDF’s excavation of a network of tunnels in northern Gaza under and around Hamas’s military headquarters, and the discovery of video footage, two wheelchairs, and intelligence and documents relating to Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif, are impressive military and intelligence accomplishments.

However, amid the ongoing debate whether Deif still uses a wheelchair, or if he can walk on his own, the most important question may be lost: Where is Deif now?

IDF sources have confirmed that they still do not know.

With the IDF controlling most of northern Gaza, IDF intelligence assumes that Deif fled to southern Gaza from his military headquarters office sometime after the IDF’s invasion, in late October.

US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he did not expect an Israel-Hamas deal for the release of hostages held in Gaza to be struck soon.

"We're pushing," Biden told reporters during a trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Efforts are underway to try to arrange for the release of more hostages, with the heads of the US CIA, Israel's Mossad and Qatar's prime minister expected to meet and discuss the issue.

The leader of Yemen's Houthis warned on Wednesday they would strike US warships if the Iranian-backed militia was targeted by Washington, which this week set up a multinational force to counter Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

The Houthis, which control vast amounts of territory in Yemen after years of war, have since last month fired drones and missiles at international vessels sailing through the Red Sea, attacks it says respond to Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.

The US-led security initiative will see Washington and ten other, mostly NATO countries patrol the Red Sea to deter and respond to future Houthi attacks that have so far led to major global shipping lines rerouting around Africa instead.

"We will not stand idly by if the Americans are tempted to escalate further and commit foolishness by targeting our country or waging war against it," Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said.

"Any American targeting of our country will be targeted by us, and we will make American battleships, interests, and navigation a target for our missiles, drones, and military operations," he said in a televised speech.

A Lebanese man was shot by Israeli sniper fire in a car in Kafrkela in southern Lebanon as exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah continued along the Lebanese-Israeli border on Wednesday, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

The Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar TV reported that two Lebanese men not from the area were visiting the area near the border with Metula and were unaware that the area was considered dangerous. IDF soldiers opened fire toward them and they got into their car and attempted to drive away when one of them was shot and killed, according to al-Manar.

The IDF said on Wednesday evening that Israeli airstrikes had targeted an operational command room, terrorist infrastructure, a military structure, rocket launchers, and a weapons storage site belonging to Hezbollah.

IDF tank and artillery fire also eliminated several threats in southern Lebanon throughout the day on Wednesday, and several projectiles were launched from Lebanon toward Israel, including two surface-to-air missiles fired at an Israeli aircraft.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said that the United States believes Israel must eliminate the threat posed by Hamas while minimizing civilian casualties in Gaza.

"We continue to believe that Israel does not have to choose between removing the threat of Hamas and minimizing the toll on civilians in Gaza," Blinken said in an end-of-the-year news conference. "It must do both and it has a strategic interest to do both."

Nataly Brol came to pick up a free mini Christmas tree from Jerusalem’s Old City for the first time on Tuesday.

A resident of Jerusalem who moved to Israel from Ukraine 25 years ago, this season, she decided her home needed a little extra joy.

“For me, this is to celebrate Novy God,” the Russian New Year, she explained. “Usually, I celebrate at home with my son. This year, he is on reserve duty in the IDF. So I decided I would put up a tree to bring some joy. I like the smell of the tree; it reminds me of back home.”

Bringing the holiday spirit to Israel

Brol was one of around 100 Jerusalemites waiting in the cold by the New Gate to receive their free Christmas tree, a project of the Jerusalem Municipality. Each year, for the past 25 years, the city has been giving out 350 free trees to Christian residents – local Arab Christians, immigrants from the former Soviet Union, and Christian volunteers who are in the city for the holiday, said Jerusalem spokesperson Udi Shaham.

The city advertises the offer in local newspapers in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, he said.

A Lebanese man was shot by Israeli sniper fire in a car in Kafrkela in southern Lebanon as exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah continued along the Lebanese-Israeli border on Wednesday, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

The IDF said on Wednesday evening that Israeli airstrikes had targeted an operational command room, terrorist infrastructure, a military structure, rocket launchers, and a weapons storage site belonging to Hezbollah.

IDF tank and artillery fire also eliminated several threats in southern Lebanon throughout the day on Wednesday, and several projectiles were launched from Lebanon toward Israel, including two surface-to-air missiles fired at an Israeli aircraft.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said that "no matter what, there will be a lot of action in the coming year," telling reservists along the northern border on Wednesday that the IDF would push further and enhance security for residents of northern Israel.

"We are not going back to what was before. This means pushing further, establishing this, and returning the residents here, in Netu'a and the entire border, to another situation that is much safer. Our role as uniform wearers is to prepare the first option, to be very well prepared for it, for combat," said Halevi. "No matter what, there will be a lot of action in the coming year."

Israeli forces thwarted a NIS 16 million drug smuggling operation along the Egyptian border on Tuesday, the IDF announced.

IDF fighters under the direction of lookouts foiled the smuggling after suspects were identified trying to cross into Israeli territory.

Over 400 kilograms of illegal substances, worth some NIS 16 million, were confiscated by Israeli forces.