The elite Yahalom (Diamond) combat engineering unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been busy finding and destroying Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip as part of an operation that could take many months.
As Breitbart News reported Thursday:
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is beginning to tackle the challenge of Hamas’s underground tunnel network, in which it hides terrorists, weapons, supplies — and hostages.
There are hundreds of miles of Hamas tunnels underneath Gaza, often built with supplies that were supposed to be used for civilian construction and humanitarian aid. Some tunnels were built through the use of child slave labor, leading to the deaths of Palestinian children. And, as critics have noted, none of the tunnels offer bomb shelters for Palestinian civilians — only terrorists.
The IDF released footage Friday of the Yahalom unit destroying a tunnel that it had found:
לוחמי יחידת יהל"ם, בשיתוף לוחמי הנדסה מגדוד 7107, חטיבת הנח"ל, חטיבת הנגב וכוחות שריון חשפו ונטרלו במגוון פעילויות מיוחדות מנהרות לחימה פעילות של ארגון חמאס בשטח הרצועה.
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 3, 2023
הלוחמים חשפו פירים, הטמינו חומרי נפץ, מילכדו ונטרלו מנהרות בשטח רצועת עזה pic.twitter.com/LaGtUVniau
In a statement, the IDF said:
Soldiers of the Yahalom Unit, in cooperation with combat engineers from Battalion 7107, the Armored Corps, the Nahal Brigade and the Negev Brigade exposed and neutralized Hamas’ terror tunnels during special operations inside the Gaza Strip.
The troops uncovered tunnel shafts, rigged them with explosives and neutralized the tunnels.
The IDF also released more evidence that Hamas is hoarding fuels in the tunnels, in particular below the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where it also hides Hamas terrorists and weapons:
A source in the Gaza healthcare system confirms:
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 3, 2023
Hamas is stealing fuel from Gazan civilians, storing it under Shifa hospital and using it for terror.
….Someone happened to record the call — so that you could hear the truth. pic.twitter.com/OoEEYxgTA1
The IDF has killed hundreds of terrorists thus far in Gaza, losing 22 of its own soldiers.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.