DThe Israeli army says it has discovered a tunnel network in the Gaza Strip used by the leadership of the radical Islamic Hamas. The military released footage on Wednesday that it said showed “a large network of tunnels connecting terrorist hideouts, offices and homes of the Hamas leadership.” The tunnels around Palestine Square in the center of Gaza city were used by high-ranking Hamas representatives such as “Ismail Haniya, Jahja Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and others,” said army spokesman Peter Lerner.
Sinwar and Deif are two senior fighters whom Israel accuses of planning Hamas' October 7 attack on the country. The Israeli army said the tunnels were part of a complex, both above and below ground, “that was a center of power for Hamas' military and political wing.” The military later said Palestine Square was “connected to underground infrastructure in the Rantisi Hospital and Shifa Hospital areas.”
The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, which terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups carried out in Israel on October 7th. Israel responded with massive air strikes and began a ground offensive in late October. In view of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the sealed-off coastal area, Israel has recently come under increasing international pressure. According to the Islamist Hamas, at least 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began.
Netanyahu: “All Hamas terrorists are doomed to die”
While international criticism of the Gaza war continues to grow in view of the numerous civilian victims, Israel's head of government has ruled out an early end to the military offensive against the Islamist Hamas in the sealed-off coastal strip. “We will continue the war until the end. It will continue until Hamas is eliminated – until victory,” Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message on Wednesday.
The Israeli Prime Minister reiterated that the military would only stop fighting once Israel had achieved its war goals. “Anyone who believes that we will stop is far from reality,” Netanyahu said. Israel will not give up until all goals are achieved. These are “the elimination of Hamas, the release of our hostages and the elimination of the threat from the Gaza Strip.” Netanyahu once again emphasized that all Hamas terrorists, “from the first to the last, are doomed to die.” Israel is attacking Hamas and its accomplices “near and far”. They only have two options: “Surrender or die,” Netanyahu continued.
US also calls for international response to Hamas actions
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, called for “more targeted” military operations. “We expect and want to see a shift to more targeted operations with smaller numbers of forces that are really focused on the leadership of Hamas, the tunnel network (…),” Blinken said in Washington. If that happens, the number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip will also decrease.
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