Hamas Documents Reveal Tunnel Battle Strategy

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****** Documents Reveal Tunnel Battle Strategy

******’s handbook for underground combat describes, in meticulous detail, how to navigate in darkness, move stealthily beneath Gaza and ***** automatic weapons in confined spaces for maximum lethality.

Battlefield commanders were even instructed to time, down to the second, how long it took their fighters to move between various points underground.

The 2019 manual, which was seized by ******** forces and reviewed by The New York Times, was part of a yearslong effort by ******, well before its Oct. 7 ******* and current war with *******, to build an underground military operation that could withstand prolonged attacks and slow down ******** ground forces inside the darkened tunnels.

Just a year before attacking *******, Yahya Sinwar, the leader of ****** in the Gaza Strip, approved spending $225,000 to install blast doors to protect the militia’s tunnel network from airstrikes and ground assaults.

The approval document said that ****** brigade commanders had reviewed the tunnels below Gaza and identified critical places underground and at the surface that needed fortification.

The records, along with interviews with experts and ******** commanders, help explain why, nearly a year into the war, ******* has struggled to achieve its objective of dismantling ******.

******** officials spent years searching for and dismantling tunnels that ****** could use to sneak into ******* to launch an *******. But assessing the underground network inside Gaza was not a priority, a senior ******** official said, because an invasion and full-scale war there seemed unlikely.

All the while, officials now realize, ****** was girding for just such a confrontation.

Were it not for the tunnels, experts say, ****** would have stood little chance against the far superior ******** military.

The underground-combat manual contains instructions on how to camouflage tunnel entrances, locate them with compasses or GPS, enter quickly and move efficiently.

“While moving in the dark inside the tunnel, the fighter needs night-vision goggles equipped with infrared,” the document, written in Arabic, reads. Weapons should be set to automatic and fired from the shoulder. “This type of ********* is effective because the tunnel is narrow, so the shots are aimed at the ***** zones in the upper part of the human body.”

******** officials knew before the war that ****** had an extensive tunnel network, but it has proved to be more sophisticated and extensive than they realized.

Early in the war, they estimated that it stretched for about 250 miles. Now they believe it is up to twice as long.

And they continue to discover new tunnels. Just last week, ******** commandos rescued a Bedouin ***** citizen of ******* who was found alone in an underground warren. The government said on Sunday that six hostages had been found ***** in another tunnel.

Mr. Sinwar, *******’s highest-value target, has been suspected of managing the war and evading capture from a tunnel.

The records show how both sides have had to adapt their tactics in the war. Just as ******* underestimated the tunnels, ****** prepared for subterranean battles that have not materialized. ******* was reluctant, especially early in the war, to send troops underground where they might face combat. ****** has primarily

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soldiers near tunnel entrances, while avoiding direct confrontations.

That has left ****** to use the tunnels to launch aboveground hit-and-run attacks, hide from ******** forces and detonate explosives using remote triggers and hidden cameras, according to ******** military officials and a review of battlefield photos and videos.

These maneuvers have slowed *******’s ********, but its military has still decimated ******’s ranks, routed them from strongholds and forced them to abandon huge swaths of the tunnel network that they invested so heavily to build.

Members of the ******** military discovered the tunnel warfare document in Gaza City’s Zeitoun District in November, officials said. A letter from Mr. Sinwar to a military commander was found that same month south of the city. The documents were made available by to The Times by ******** military officials.

A military spokesperson said that “the fact that ****** is hiding in tunnels and managing much of the fighting from there prolongs the war.” A senior ****** official declined to comment on the tunnel strategy.

The markings on the documents are consistent with other ****** materials that have been made public or been examined by The Times. And ******** soldiers have described details, like camouflaged tunnel entrances and recently installed blast doors, that are consistent with the ****** documents. The documents also describe the use of gas detectors and night-vision goggles, equipment that ******** forces have found inside tunnels.

“******’s combat strategy is based on underground tactics,” said Tamir Hayman, a former head of *******’s military intelligence. “This is one of the primary reasons they have managed to withstand the I.D.F. thus far.”

Since the war started, much has been revealed about the subterranean network, which has been called the “Gaza Metro.” ****** uses some rudimentary tunnels simply to mount attacks. The fighting manual describes how people should maneuver these narrow passages in darkness: with one hand on the wall and the other on the fighter in front.

Others tunnels are sophisticated command-and-control centers or arteries connecting underground weapons factories to storage facilities — concealing ******’s entire military infrastructure. In some cases, ****** has used solar panels installed on the roofs of private homes to provide power underground.

Some tunnels also serve as communication hubs. This past winter, ******** forces discovered a Nokia telecommunications system underneath the headquarters of the U.N. agency for ************ refugees.

Such Nokia systems provide voice and data services, according to the manual obtained by The Times, and could have functioned as a switchboard for an underground communication network. But the features require additional hardware and it is not clear what abilities ****** had.

****** has been known to hold ******** hostages underground, so every tunnel needs to be investigated and cleared, ******** officials say.

Destroying a tunnel section can take dozens of soldiers about 10 hours, according to a senior ******** officer who is an expert on tunnel warfare. Last year, the ******** Army discovered a tunnel that had a depth of 250 feet — about the height of a 25-story building. The army said it took months to ******** it.

“I cannot overstate that in any way. The tunnels impact the pace of the operations,” said Daphné Richemond-Barak, a tunnel warfare expert at Reichman University in *******. “You can’t advance. You can’t secure the terrain.”

“You’re dealing with two wars,” she added. “One on the surface and one on the subsurface.”

One ******** special operations officer, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss military activities, said that as soldiers approached the tunnels, ****** sometimes blasted the ceilings, causing *****-ins that would block the path.

An ******** military official said that it could take years to ******** the entire tunnel network.

*******’s military leadership has made the tunnels its main target. But the campaign has come at a steep cost for ************ civilians. Many of the tunnels snake beneath densely occupied areas. ******* has publicized videos of the military destroying tunnels with more than 16 tons of explosives per kilometer.

The ******** military estimates that it costs ****** about $300,000 to build roughly a half-mile-long rudimentary tunnel. Ms. Richemond-Barak said that the letter from Mr. Sinwar highlighted the expense and sophistication behind the effort.

The letter was written to Muhammad Deif, the group’s military commander, who is believed to have been an architect of the Oct. 7 *******. It is not clear when ****** completed its review of tunnel fortifications or whether it was done in connection to the ******* planning. Mr. Sinwar wrote that “the brigades will be given the money according to the level of importance and necessity.”

The letter could indicate where the group anticipated the toughest fighting. Mr. Sinwar authorized the most money for doors in northern Gaza and Khan Younis. Indeed, some of the heaviest fighting during the war has taken place in those areas.

“The ****** tunnel system was an essential, if not existential element of their original battle plan,” said Ralph F. Goff, a former senior C.I.A. official who served in the Middle East.

It is not clear when ****** started using the doors, but Ms. Richemond-Barak said the group’s heavy reliance on them was new. She was not aware of ****** using them during a 2014 war with *******.

Blast doors seal tunnel segments from each other and from the outside, protecting against bombings and breaches. They also hamper the army’s use of drones to inspect and map tunnels.

The ******** military has repeatedly encountered blast doors as they cleared tunnels. Despite the tactics described in the tunnel-fighting manual, once those doors have been breached, ******** officials say, soldiers seldom find ****** fighters behind them. They have fled, reflecting an *******-and-retreat strategy that has become commonplace.

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington.

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