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href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-tunnels-seen-vital-tool-resistance/17216"
id="reader-domain" class="domain"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-tunnels-seen-vital-tool-resistance/17216">https://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-tunnels-seen-vital-tool-resistance/17216</a></a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Gaza tunnels seen as vital tool of
resistance</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">
<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/hamza-abu-eltarabesh"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label
skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Hamza Abu Eltarabesh</a></span>
<span class="field field-publisher">- </span><span
class="field field-location"></span><span class="field
field-publication-date"><span class="date-display-single"
property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime"
content="2016-06-27T20:38:00+00:00">27 June 2016</span></span>
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<div
xml:base="https://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-tunnels-seen-vital-tool-resistance/17216"
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<article class="node-17216 node node-story view-mode-full
node-is-page image-landscape">
<figure class="file file-image file-image-jpeg
media-element file-figure" id="file-39196"><source
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<p>It was a warm night in Jabaliya, northeast of Gaza
City. Abu Zein and his wife were fast asleep when what
the couple first thought was an earthquake shook their
bed so hard, its legs buckled.</p>
<p>They immediately jumped up and ran out of the home they
had only recently moved into after getting married. But
outside was quiet. No one was stirring, no damage was
visible, the ground stayed still.</p>
<p>The only movement came from the shadows where a couple
of fighters with the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/qassam-brigades">Qassam
Brigades</a>, the military wing of <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/hamas">Hamas</a>,
emerged to ask the couple what had happened.</p>
<p>When Abu Zein — who did not want to give his real name
for this article out of concern for his safety — told
them, the fighters promised to repair any damage in the
couple’s house. The next day, a man turned up with tools
to repair the damage to the floor and money as
compensation for the damaged furniture.</p>
<h2>Land of layers</h2>
<p>Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza have long used
underground tunnels as an integral part of their
military tactics. In this, they have taken a lesson from
history. The Vietnamese <a
href="http://vietnamesekitchen.co.uk/blog/the-secret-tunnels-of-cu-chi">dug
an extensive network</a> of tunnels in their battle
against US troops, a network with which the American
military never got to grips. <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/hizballah">Hizballah</a>
also went underground to resist the Israeli occupation
of Lebanon and during Israel’s war on the country in
2006.</p>
<p>For Palestinian groups — especially the Qassam Brigades
— the tunnels serve a multitude of purposes, from
smuggling to infiltration to shelter. They are the only
protection from Israel’s air power and prying eyes in
the sky. They have also been used offensively, most
notably in a 2004 attack on an Israeli military
observation point in Rafah that saw five Israeli
soldiers killed and in the 2006 capture of Israeli
soldier Gilad Shalit.</p>
<p>Abu Zein’s story is one of many suggesting that Gaza is
now made up of layers. Most people live and work above
ground. But below — as illustrated in a 2015 <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3rhQ6BWmRI">Al
Jazeera documentary</a> in which correspondent Wael
al-Dahdouh gained access to tunnels in the western part
of the coastal enclave — others, these in military
fatigues, go about their business.</p>
<p>Al-Dahdouh’s documentary is eye-opening. It shows the
kind of tunnels seen on the news: narrow,
claustrophobic, snaking their way under the surface. But
it also shows larger spaces that function as storage
rooms, bedrooms, living spaces, kitchens and bathrooms.</p>
<p>Tunneling is dangerous work and tunnels are designed
from bitter experience. Roofs are curved, Qassam members
explained to Al Jazeera, as flat ceilings collapse more
easily. And their use is of utmost strategic import to
the Palestinian resistance, say observers. They explain,
said Yousef al-Sharqawi, a retired <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/palestinian-authority">Palestinian
Authority</a> major-general, the ability of the Qassam
Brigades to resist repeated, prolonged and ferocious
Israeli attacks.</p>
<p>Tunnels, al-Sharqawi said, offered fighters shelter,
freedom of movement and the ability to surprise and in
some cases capture Israeli troops.</p>
<p>The Al Jazeera documentary also shows that tunnel
engineers have access to reasonably sophisticated
equipment that is a far cry from the manual methods used
in the past. Additionally, the tunnels have their own
communication network, allowing fighters to exchange
information without risk of interception.</p>
<h2>Risky work</h2>
<p>In a chance encounter with a group of diggers from the
Qassam Brigades, this reporter had an opportunity to ask
about their work. Estimates vary, but according to the
Brigades, as per the Al Jazeera documentary, some 4,000
people are engaged in digging tunnels, getting paid
between $200 and $400 a month.</p>
<p>The work is round the clock, tough and dangerous.</p>
<p>“We suffer breathing problems,” said one of the men, in
a coarse voice. All of the men remained masked during
the brief encounter. “The air is not good beneath
ground. But we get used to it.”</p>
<p>Another said they overcame their fear of tunnel
collapse through faith.</p>
<p>“When we are inside, we trust in God. If something
should happen, it will be our honor to be martyrs.”</p>
<p>The group left quickly. Security procedures do not
allow members of Qassam, when bearing the group’s
colors, to stay in the open long.</p>
<p>Their bravura notwithstanding, casualties of the tunnel
industry are a commonplace phenomenon in Gaza. In
January, <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/palestinian-authority-officer-turns-his-gun-israel">seven
young men died</a> after a tunnel collapsed in bad
weather.</p>
<p>With such danger involved, it is perhaps not surprising
that the Qassam Brigades should be keen to advertise the
strategic importance of the tunnels. At the beginning of
the year, the group <a
href="http://www.alqassam.ps/arabic/%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%85/9146/%D8%A3%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%B2-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%88%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%8A-%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B0%D8%AA-%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%86%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9">published
a report</a> on its official website citing what it
called the “major achievements” of the tunnel tactics
over the years. Seventy Israeli soldiers were killed in
13 operations, according to the report, 129 soldiers
were injured and two were captured, Shalit in 2006 and
Shaul Aaron during Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza.</p>
<h2>Israel’s costly counter</h2>
<p>The Israeli military is certainly taking the tunnels
seriously. Tunnels are one of the reasons Israel cites
to prevent materials such as cement and wood from
entering Gaza, stymying attempts at rebuilding the
civilian infrastructure — from sewage networks to
housing — badly damaged during repeated Israeli
assaults.</p>
<p>The military is investing millions in technology to
detect tunnels. In April, the army <a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.715048">claimed
to have discovered</a> a tunnel 30 meters underground.
It has <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/gaza-laboratory-us-mexico-border-tunnel-warfare">secured
US support</a> in these detection efforts to the tune
of $120 million.</p>
<p>None of this deters military leaders in the Qassam
Brigades. One high-ranking fighter told this reporter in
a written reply through an intermediary that “nobody can
stop our tunnel operations … Israel tries to hide its
failure to destroy tunnels by blocking the entrance of
equipment and materials to Gaza.”</p>
<p>Fayez Abu Shamala, a political analyst and professor at
Gaza’s al-Aqsa University, recently suggested in a <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=958123970971765&id=100003225133179">Facebook
post</a> that any technological advances on the
Israeli side would only be met by greater determination
on the Palestinian side. A high-ranking source, he
wrote, “told me that they have recently succeeded in
establishing offensive tunnels at a depth of 50 meters.”</p>
<p>Destroying the tunnels was the <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/world/middleeast/tunnels-lead-right-to-heart-of-israeli-fear.html">stated
goal</a> of Israel’s 2014 ground invasion of Gaza and
their continued existence is an embarrassment to
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and a potential spark
for another conflict. In January, Netanyahu threatened
to act with “<a
href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-threatens-to-eclipse-2014-war-to-destroy-gaza-tunnels/">much
more force</a>” than in the 2014 offensive that killed
more than 2,200 people. And the appointment last month
as defense minister of Avigdor Lieberman, who has
previously threatened a “<a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/will-lieberman-order-new-attack-gaza/16936">thorough
cleansing</a>” of Gaza, only adds fuel to the fire.</p>
<p>Yet Palestinian resistance leaders maintain the tunnels
are of such strategic importance as a means of pressure
on Israel that the high costs are worth it. Of the
tunnel Israel detected in April, one leader of the
Brigades <a href="http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/256399">estimated</a>
its cost at $4 million and told Lebanon’s <em>al-Akhbar</em>
newspaper that an average tunnel costs $2 million to
dig.</p>
<p>“This cost is nothing compared to their value as an
effective military tactic,” he said. “They remain a real
challenge to Israel.”</p>
<p><em>Hamza Abu Eltarabesh is a journalist from Gaza.</em></p>
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