Army dismantles Hamas tunnel in northern Gaza Strip

This Sunday, the Israeli army announced the dismantling of a Hamas tunnel structure in the north of the Gaza Strip, where the bodies of five hostages, whose deaths have already been confirmed, were discovered.

“In recent weeks, the 551st Brigade of the 162nd Division has established control over the territory of Camp Jabaliya, one of the Hamas operational centers in the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

The operations included “brutal fighting” during which “many terrorists were killed by soldiers” and hundreds of weapons were discovered, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

The bodies found match those of three soldiers captured on October 7: Ziv Dado, Ron Sherman and Nick Beiser, as well as civilians Eden Zacharias and Elia Toledano.

“As part of the operation and after receiving preliminary information from the secret services (…) a network of strategic tunnels was uncovered that served as the headquarters of Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip,” the Israeli army said.

The underground base in Jabaliya included two levels: the first was about ten meters deep, and the second was tens of meters deep.

“A network of tunnels with multiple routes was used to control combat operations and terrorist movements. Weapons, weapons production infrastructure and emergency shelters were discovered deep inside military barracks,” the military statement added.

Regarding the discovery of the bodies of those abducted in the tunnels, the army indicated that information had already been transmitted to the families to whom they expressed condolences.

The latest conflict between Israel and Hamas arose after the bloody and unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli territory on October 7.

A total of 1,140 people, mostly civilians, were killed that day, according to a tally by the AFP news agency based on the latest official Israeli figures. Some 240 civilians and military personnel were abducted, with Israel reporting that 127 remain in the Gaza Strip.

In response, Israel, which has promised to destroy the Palestinian Islamist movement, has been bombing the Gaza Strip since October 7, where, according to the local government led by Hamas, about 20,500 people have already been killed – mostly women, children and teenagers. – – and more than 52 thousand people were injured, most of them civilians, much of the infrastructure was destroyed and about 1.9 million people were forced to leave their homes, almost the entire population of the enclave.

The population of the Gaza Strip is also facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis due to the collapse of hospitals, outbreaks of epidemics and shortages of drinking water, food, medicine and electricity. Since October 7, more than 280 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army and in settler attacks in the Jewish State-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in addition to more than four thousand detained.