Inside the tunnel that hid a Hamas mastermind—and what the IDF found

Since the beginning of Operation Gideon's Chariots, the IDF has been operating in the Khan Younis area under the assumption that Mohammed Sinwar's headquarters, which had not been attacked since the beginning of the war, was operating in the area, based on the understanding that the IDF would not attack or besiege a hospital.

In the middle of last month, the most important intelligence was received by the Shin Bet. A captured Nukhba terrorist, along with additional intelligence, indicated that the main headquarters was located beneath the European Hospital compound.

The Shin Bet passed the intelligence to the IDF, which prepared an operation based fundamentally on bombing several focal points of the tunnel. The Shin Bet and Military Intelligence were able to provide highly accurate, quality intelligence about the tunnel's route.

The IDF had at its disposal several bombs, each weighing about a ton. The bombing was designed so that two focal points inside the hospital would be bombed and cause an inward collapse of sand that would seal the tunnel section in such a way that whoever was inside the tunnel would not be able to extract themselves.

Simultaneously, aircraft attacked the tunnel at several additional points, with the attacks carried out in such a way that dozens of bombs were placed with precision of just a few centimeters from each other, so that each bomb deepened the penetration for the bomb that was dropped after it.

It should be noted that despite dozens of tons of bombs landing on the tunnel, no wing or building of the hospital was damaged.

A military source says that everything remained in place, only the tunnel was destroyed in such a way that the gas dispersion from the bombings was trapped in a severed space and created a lethal gas chamber. And this is how it worked until the middle of last week.

Then on Wednesday, Shaldag fighters and Golani reconnaissance fighters stormed the hospital. The activity was conducted without combat against terrorists, but the force had to deal with explosive devices that were placed in the area.

Yahalom fighters began to locate the tunnel. The first shaft was found under the hospital at a depth of 7 meters. The IDF dug at the front of the hospital facing the emergency room entrance. At a distance of three meters, they found the tunnel that included the command rooms under the hospital building and compound, where five bodies of terrorists were found lying dead, which according to assessments are the bodies of Mohammed Sinwar, Mohammed Shabana, and others.

A senior commander in the field explains that this operation has great value. "First, intelligence value about explosives on underground routes. The second value is taking the bodies of the senior figures. And the third value is to show the world Hamas's cynical activity, hiding under hospitals," says the commander who planned and managed the operation.

Now after the bodies are in Israeli hands and there is conclusive proof of Hamas's cynical exploitation, this needs to be explained to the world and we must continue until decisive victory.