NewNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released a video showing one of Hamas’s “most complex” underground infrastructures extending beneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
According to the IDF, the seven-kilometer-long “root tunnel” runs about 25 meters underground, contains about 80 rooms and was used for command operations, weapons storage and to shelter Hamas operatives.
The video shared on
The Israeli military claims that the tunnel originates from beneath the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) compound and extends beneath civilian sites.
Israel’s Doha attack sent a decisive message that terrorism will find no safe haven.
“IDF soldiers discovered ~80 hideouts in one of Gaza’s largest and most complex underground passageways, more than 7 km long, ~25 m deep, where kidnapped IDF officer Lieutenant Hadar Goldin was being held,” the post reads.
Israeli analysts say the demolition of the tunnel is a strategic blow to Hamas and “paves the way for its defeat.”
“The destruction of this tunnel as well as many others like it or similar … as well as other terrorist facilities pushes Hamas over the edge,” said Professor Kobi Michael, senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and the Misgav Institute.
The IDF held a commemoration ceremony at a base attacked by Hamas in October. Honoring 7 martyred soldiers
The IDF uncovered one of the largest underground Hamas infrastructures in Gaza, extending to a depth of 25 meters beneath civilian sites, including mosques and schools in Rafah.
“It’s one of the longest and [most] “Complex tunnels have been discovered, but this is not the only one,” he told Fox News Digital.
Michael explained that Hamas’s root tunnels are the backbone of its underground warfare system.
“This is an example of a root tunnel, a strategic tunnel that feeds several strategic tunnels and is used for strategic purposes [such] As command and control, weapons storage, weapons manufacturing platforms[s] and strategic logistics,” he said.
Israel ready to launch offensive operation in Gaza City: Big stakes ahead, high costs
Smoke is seen rising from Deir al-Balah into Gaza City, following intense Israeli military attacks on northern Gaza on October 5, 2025. (Khams Alreifi/Getty Images)
“Such a tunnel is usually manned by hundreds of terrorists and commanders.”
The IDF believes this particular tunnel network may be connected to the area where Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier kidnapped during the 2014 Gaza war, was held captive. Hamas returned Goldin’s remains earlier this month – more than a decade later.
The tunnel’s performance sheds new light on the extent of its underground operations.
Israel’s covert operation implicates Hamas terrorists behind October 7 massacre
Israeli forces destroyed a major Hamas tunnel system in Rafah linked to the area where Lieutenant Hadar Goldin was held, dealing a strategic blow to the terrorist group’s capabilities.
He claimed, “I have no idea about the cost, but if you take into account the amount of construction material, labor and facilities and its length, it is a matter of lakhs of rupees.” “Hamas chose routes under sensitive civilian and humanitarian facilities to prevent the IDF from attacking the tunnel.”
As Israel continues its crackdown in Gaza, destroying Hamas’s tunnel network remains central to its strategy to eliminate the group’s military capabilities and deter future attacks.
In 2014, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he wanted to destroy tunnels that Hamas militants used to infiltrate Israeli territory “with or without a ceasefire”.
Click here to download Fox News App
According to a 2023 Reuters investigation, Hamas said it was using the tunnels to hide hostages captured in the October 7 attack on Israel.
According to the report, Israel’s military said its ground forces had discovered approximately 1,500 Hamas tunnels and shafts in the Gaza Strip.
