About 2 weeks ago, I reported that The Israel Defense Force may be deploying “sponge bombs” to negotiate Hamas’ labyrinthine tunnel system and trap any hidden fighters in them once they launch their long-awaited ground invasion into Gaza.
The sponge bombs consist of chemical compounds based around a liquid emulsion. The units can be thrown into a tunnel where it swiftly expands and hardens, trapping Hamas terrorists.
It appears those sponge bombs are being deployed, as well as an array of other equipment and resources.
Anxious to limit losses among its soldiers, Israel’s military has deployed a complex array of technologies to probe and attempt to destroy the underground complexes — and eventually the Hamas leadership — including around Al Shifa hospital.From the air, surveillance drones seek to detect the hidden structures, while warplanes are equipped with bunker-buster bombs designed to penetrate hardened structures to reach deep below the ground.On the ground, bulldozers clear areas suspected to be above the subterranean network while attack dogs, unmanned vehicles and robots are used to help explore the underground terrain. Also in the military’s arsenal is a new weapon: a chemical grenade that doesn’t contain explosives but rapidly expands and solidifies foam to seal off entrances, known as a “sponge bomb.”The hi-tech tactics aim to avoid the risk of sending soldiers into Hamas’s several hundred kilometers of tunnels, where Israel believes highly-armed militants are protecting themselves from the ongoing Gaza assault. The military is instead prioritizing the blocking and damaging of the network — which may not be enough to root out the group and help Israel achieve its ultimate aim: ensuring Hamas’s destruction.
And while hi-tech is a great option, there are times old-fashioned explosives get the job done quickly and efficiently.
After locating what they described as the entrance to a Hamas tunnel under an evacuated hospital in northern Gaza, Israeli army engineers filled the passage with exploding gel and hit the detonator.The blast engulfed the building and sent smoke spewing out of at least three points along a nearby road in a district of the city of Beit Hanoun, surveillance footage showed.”The gel spread out and exploded whatever they had been waiting for us in the tunnel,” an army officer told reporters at a briefing at Zeelim Ground Forces Base in southern Israel.
One aspect of this news story that I find particularly disturbing is the call for Israel to prove these tunnels exist.
The Israeli military released footage of a tunnel opening from within the largest hospital in Gaza on Thursday, the first evidence to support its claims that Hamas’s vast tunnel network runs underneath the medical facility.With pressure mounting on Israel to show proof to justify sending troops into the Al-Shifa Hospital, Israel said it was still in the process of combing through the complex. Hamas has denied the claims that it has used the medical facility as a command center and has requested that the hospital be reviewed by international organizations.
Without giving too much away, the Israeli Defense Force offers proofs:
But social media and “Palestine” supporters offer a steady stream of denials:
It appears arch-terrorist Yahya Sinwar, now Hamas prime minister in Gaza and de facto leader of the movement, was inspired to construct the underground city during his time in an Israeli prison. He offered this statement about the extent of tunnels underneath Gaza:
In May 2021, during Operation Guardian of the Walls, the IAF bombed what it termed Hamas’s “metro” and claimed to have “critically” damaged it.The following month, in his victory speech after the end of the operation, Sinwar announced that in Israel “they say they destroyed 60 miles of Hamas tunnels. I tell you that in the Gaza Strip, there are over 300 miles of tunnels. So, even if their story is true, they only destroyed 20% of the tunnels.”There’s no reason to think that Sinwar was lying in his speech.
Using math and common sense, there were 240 miles left in 2021. Certainly the “humanitarian” aid pouring into Gaza helped repair the 60 miles, and likely added to the tunnel complex. Those tunnels aren’t cheap, either.
The Israeli military has provided estimates in 2014 that Hamas spent around $30 to $90 million, and poured 600,000 tons of concrete, in order to build three dozen tunnels. Some tunnels were estimated to have cost $3 million to construct.
I wish the Israelis continued success as they use all the tools and resources to destroy Hamas’ terror web, especially the tunnel system it clearly valued more than the citizens of Gaza.
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