RAFAH, Gaza Strip – The Jerusalem Post joined a Hebrew media visit on Thursday to the largest Hamas tunnel for cross-border smuggling on the Philadelphi Corridor and to the tunnel shaft in Tel Sultan, Rafah, where six Israeli hostages who Hamas had held were found dead on August 31.
The cross-border tunnel was large enough to fit large smuggling vehicles inside. It was the tunnel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was referring to in his presentation about the enormous tunnels along the Corridor.
Hamas's large tunnel network
It was one of nine cross-border tunnels that the Israeli military has discovered and destroyed since taking over Rafah from Hamas in May-June, according to the IDF.
Those nine tunnels are themselves part of a network of more than 200 tunnels in that area of Rafah, around 160, or 80%, of which the IDF says it has already destroyed.
During the Post’s visit to the Corridor, dozens of large drills could be seen continuing the work of uncovering any other potential tunnels in the area.
The visit was different from the one in Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor on June 26, when the IDF had taken control of almost all of Gaza above ground but was only at the initial stages of exploring and destroying Hamas’s vast tunnel network.
At that time, IDF commanders were pointing out tunnel shafts that they were exploring but had not yet dug up completely, let alone destroyed.
For example, the entry point was exactly the same spot where this large tunnel was being hidden, but they had no idea what was underground right in front of this author’s eyes.
The cross-border tunnel we viewed was next to an area that previously had a mosque and a hangar bay, both destroyed at some point during the IDF invasion.
The tunnel was a few dozen meters from the border fence. Still, the IDF said that Hamas had purposely caused a collapse in the tunnel, as observed by the Post, and that once the military dug around the collapsed portion, it found that the tunnel continued until around 10 meters from the border.
According to the IDF, by that point, the tunnel had already collapsed a second time from the Egyptian side.
The military gave the Egyptians credit for filling in or destroying all nine cross-border tunnels that it found.
Another feature of the Philadelphi cross-border tunnel was the metal hinges left over from a blast door, which the IDF had broken through.
According to IDF sources, the tunnel’s excavation likely took place primarily between 2012 and 2014.
The sources noted that the top of the tunnel was covered in cement, a sign of a more expensive and significant tunnel; other tunnels in Rafah might only be overlaid with iron and wood or might be tiny, requiring crawling through.
The country was shaken by the news of the six killed hostages two weeks ago. The tunnel shaft is located in Tel Sultan.
According to the IDF, they were killed on August 29, but sources have said that they might have been killed as early as the night before.
Reports already indicated the shaft’s location in a children’s area. Pictures of Mickey Mouse and Snow White were still visible, and the word “LOVE” in English was prominently displayed on one of the partially broken walls next to it.
Multiple buildings around the area were still standing, though many had been damaged by the IDF when it had to remove items that would have obstructed the exhumation of the bodies.
The area was extremely well hidden, away from the main road.
Even as reporters and soldiers continued to carry out their duties, a darker atmosphere descended on those present covering the tunnel shaft, reflecting how deeply the tragedy of the six hostages’ recent killing has impacted the country.
According to IDF sources, the military initially thought there might be hostages in the area, but during their maneuvers in late August, the likelihood of hostages being present had significantly decreased. The reason was that IDF intelligence had indications that most of the hostages and senior Hamas officials had already fled the area when large portions of civilians ran from the area.
In that light, despite the IDF’s increased caution in its operations so as not to endanger hostages, the going assumption was that the hostages who were in Rafah and Tel Sultan had already been moved.
The true reason that the tunnel shaft was found where the six hostages’ bodies were was that the IDF suspected that Hamas terrorists had a tunnel hideout nearby – but not related to hostages per se.
A “buggy” vehicle, used for tunnel searches, was moving through the area when it began to sink slightly in the area above the tunnel shaft, indicating the presence of something unusual below.
The IDF then dug through the cement that was used by the terrorists to conceal the area, and they found the shaft.With significant difficulty, a drone was sent into the tunnel shaft to explore, but it did not reveal much.
Eventually, the IDF noticed food items and bags containing bodily excretions, leading it to believe the shaft might be more important than originally thought.
Next, the IDF found three dead bodies inside.
A further search revealed another three bodies inside, including women, who would be unusual to find in tunnels.The IDF said it was likely that two terrorists murdered the six hostages, which could correspond with the two somewhat separate sets of three dead bodies.
Separately, IDF sources said that the Shayetet 13 and other special forces carried out an operation that resulted in the deaths of the Tel Sultan battalion commander, deputy commander Mahmoud Hamdan, and Naal Bashir.
These special forces and other surveillance methods caught on to a sizable group of terrorists who were acting suspiciously, pretending to be civilians fleeing Tel Sultan through a humanitarian corridor.
Since the terrorists were not covering their faces and did not have a hand on anyone moving through (to prevent escape), they concluded they were not hostages.
The IDF then tracked, engaged, and killed those senior Hamas commanders. The IDF also killed three other senior Hamas Tel Sultan commanders.
In total, 2,308 Hamas terrorists were killed in Rafah, and 13.6 kilometers of tunnels have been destroyed.