IDF destroys Hamas tunnel in Palestine Square where leaders hid during Oct. 7 attack
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The IDF blew up an extensive Hamas tunnel system hidden beneath Gaza’s Palestine Square where terrorist leaders hid during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel — as officials said the ground offensive in the north is nearing an end.
The Israeli military released video Thursday of a huge series of explosions demolishing the tunnels in the upscale Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City that once housed Hamas’ upper echelons.
Col. Benny Aharon, who gave a tour to reporters two days before the demolition, said the homes and offices of Hamas’ top Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar and military chief Muhammad Deif were linked to the tunnel network, The Times of Israel reports.
Also located in the ritzy neighborhood was the home of the daughter of Hamas’ top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh.
The Jewish state believes Sinwar and Deif were operating in the tunnels beneath Palestine Square when their forces stormed Israel on Oct. 7, slaughtering 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 240 others.
The IDF located about 20 tunnel shafts that led to the Palestine Square underground network, with some entrances located just a few feet from the main traffic circle of the neighborhood.
Aharon told reporters that the electricity used throughout the tunnels was available because Hamas siphoned power from civilian generators and solar panels, with enough energy stolen to allow terrorists to “survive down there for months.”
Given its location and size in such a populated area, Aharon claimed it was “not possible that people did not know what was going on here.”
Along with the electrical system, the IDF found several weapons in the tunnels, including guns, rockets and equipment for nighttime operations.
The destruction of the tunnel was carried out by Aharon’s 401st Armored Brigade, along with the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit, which have decimated Hamas’ forces in northern Gaza.
After nearly two months of fighting across northern Gaza, the IDF said Wednesday night that its ground offensive in the area is nearing its end as only a handful of Hamas bases remain.
Over the past 24 hours, the IDF said it has carried out airstrikes against 230 Hamas targets.
The United Nations estimates that more than 1.8 million Palestinians, 85% of the population, have been displaced by the war after fleeing northern Gaza.
The UN added that nearly 20% of all of Gaza’s buildings and infrastructure have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli strikes.
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