John Spencer is the chairman of the Department of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point. He has been studying the IDF from afar for many years. Since October 7, he has visited Israel twice to see up close the war being fought in Gaza. He’s been amazed at the amount of time and money Hamas has expended on building its vast network of tunnels, and deeply impressed, in quite another way, with what the IDF manages to achieve in minimizing civilian casualties. More on Spencer’s latest report can be found here: “Taking a look underground: West Point expert reframes Hamas tunnel issue,” Jerusalem Post, March 2, 2024:
The chair of urban warfare studies at West Point, John Spencer, published an in-depth analysis of Hamas’s unprecedented sub-terranean tunnel network, and the measures taken by the IDF to effectively neutralize it, based on his two visits to Israel, which he shared on X on Friday [March 2].
He started his analysis by noting that the utilization of tunnels in warfare is not a novel concept, with historical examples dating back to biblical times and extending to modern conflicts such as the ongoing war in Ukraine.
But there is no record in history of any similarly vast underground network as Hamas built in Gaza, with tunnels that together extend for 450 miles in length, and dug at an average depth of 50 meters.
However, he then highlighted the distinctive nature of the tunnels used by Hamas, saying its one of the two key pillars in Hamas’s strategy, along with time.
Before the outbreak of hostilities, the presence and extent of Hamas’s tunnel networks were believed to be well-documented, Spencer said.
Referred to as Gaza’s “Metro,” these networks were estimated to span hundreds of miles beneath the surface. Yet, as the conflict unfolded, the IDF unearthed an extensive labyrinth of tunnels, surpassing initial estimates. He then noted the immense investment Hamas has made in constructing these tunnels, which he believes may have cost the organization up to a billion dollars over fifteen years.
Though the Israelis thought beforehand that they had a fairly good idea of the size of Hamas’ tunnel network, once it was in Gaza, the IDF was amazed at the total length of the tunnels, their depth, and their sheer volume. Some were so large that a flatbed truck could easily drive through them. There were tunnels with living quarters and kitchens, where Hamas leaders could live comfortably for long periods, as they waited for the IDF to leave the battlefield above.
According to Spencer, Hamas’s strategy is not centered on territorial gains or defeating their enemy militarily, like most combatting forces, but on leveraging time (the second pillar of Hamas’s strategy) as a political tool. By prolonging the conflict and garnering international attention through the use of human shields and allegations of war crimes, he argues that Hamas seeks to exert pressure on Israel rather than gain the previously mentioned incentives.
This makes the case study of Hamas as the first one to use tunnels politically rather than just militarily, according to him.
Hamas knows it cannot defeat Israel militarily. But it uses the tunnels to hide weapons and fighters, and to move them about undetected by the IDF. They are being used to make it harder for the IDF to find and crush Hamas operatives; the tunnels help Hamas to stave off their final dismantlement by the IDF, and to buy time. And during that time, there has been a huge propaganda effort by Hamas, playing on the world’s diseased sympathy for “the Palestinians” who manage to be depicted as underdogs, despite being supported by 22 Arab states and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The world’s media has been carrying lots of photos and videos of Gazan “civilians” — ideally, women and children bleeding from their wounds, and moaning in pain. Still better from Hamas’ point of view are photos of dead civilians, certain to be covered on the evening news. This is part of Hamas’ strategy of exploiting those tunnels to hide men and weapons in order to drag out the war in Gaza, so that the world can be turned against Israel. That brief moment of sympathy and solidarity for Israel on October 7 did not last long. As soon as the casualty figures began to come in from Gaza, that sympathy was transferred to the Gazans. Israel, of course, has only had one goal: to defend itself against those who attacked the people of Israel on October 7, committing the most unspeakable atrocities, and to ensure that Hamas is crushed so that it will not be able to repeat such an attack, as it has promised to do, again and again and again. Just look at how the international media most hostile to Israel — the BBC, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian being the most prominent — have in the last four months managed to turn much of world opinion against the Jewish state.
somehistory says
Going back to Biblical times, in so interesting when it comes to the many ways the Jews were able to fight off their enemies. The tunnel ascribed to King Hezikiah is one of those.
But the Jews of old did not use their tunnels as hamas is using them.
mozlums are using the tunnels to wage war on babies, little kids, young women, courageous young men, and the elderly who survived hitler’s campaign.
hamas is not fighting to relieve any “oppression” or “resist” any maltreatment. hamas is out to destroy an entire people and they have a heck-of-a-lot of support in their evil goal.
OLD GUY says
Vary Correct, it is all about DOMINATION and the take over of the world not just Israel. The destruction of Israel in their eyes is the cement that will bind all muslims to the fight for dominance.
Walter Sieruk says
Those jihadists of Hamas with their underground tunnels are very comparable to mole rats.
maria says
Exactly
Taffy says
What do you have against mole rats?
Goofy says
So these poor, starving people living in the world’s biggest outdoor concentration camp still had USD 1 billion to spare to build tunnels for their evil leadership?
The problem of understanding the evil in the situation in the Middle East is that normal people simply don’t entertain the depravity of these people and the messenger of Allah who commanded his followers to defy all laws and decency.
Rufolino says
Because everyone knows a nice Moslem.
NoTaqiyya says
Any seeker of truth should look up Yair Pinto’s YouTube videos. On those videos people can see how HAMAS hijacks huge trucks loaded with food sent to the “Palestinians” by the UAE and other nations.
But instead of distributing the food to the starving people, the food goes to the gunmen hiding in the tunnels. In the meantime the fakenews media accuses the IDF of starving the Gazans into submission.
Lies, lies and more lies. Because the amount of food delivered to the “refugees for generations” has in fact increased, repeat, INCREASED.