The IDF announced today (Monday) that an underground system spanning about 10 km and connecting northern to southern Gaza has been located under a hospital and university in the Strip.
According to a statement from the IDF spokesman, the forces of Division 162, led by the Nahal Brigade's combat team in cooperation with Yalam special units forces and an engineering unit, located a system of underground tunnels connecting northern and southern Gaza. The forces gained operational control over the tunnels, and destroyed large parts after carrying out an investigation.
The IDF states that the system connects the Turkish hospital to the Al-Sara' University building in the south of Gaza City and reaches as far as the Zeitoun area in southern Gaza. This is an inter-division system, which is used for the movement of operatives between different sections of the Gaza Strip. The routes connect the center division to the Gaza City division - including the battalions of Nizirat in central Gaza, Zabra, and Zeitoun in the south.
Some rooms in the tunnels included: toilets, storage rooms for weapons and combat equipment, a branching tunnel system, as well as the bodies of dead terrorists.
The Commander of the Nahal Brigade, Col. Yair Zuckerman, commented on the findings: "In recent weeks, we have carried out significant activities to locate a network of underground tunnels that runs from north to south of the Gaza Strip, with the understanding that taking apart the Gaza Strip will include both an above-ground and underground effort."
According to him, "the effort to destroy the tunnel system was made possible thanks to the Nahal Brigade as well as a divisional operation of the Nahal in Zeitoun, following its operation in the Shati area."
