The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have uncovered what they describe as one of the biggest and most advanced Hamas tunnel systems in Gaza to date. The underground route stretches about 7 kilometers (roughly 4.5 miles) and sits 25 meters below the surface. What makes this discovery even more alarming is that the tunnel ran directly beneath a major United Nations compound in Rafah.
A Massive Network Revealed
According to the IDF, this enormous Hamas tunnel acted like a central highway connecting many smaller tunnels, rooms and hidden passageways. Soldiers say it contained 80 different rooms used for command activities, storing weapons and providing underground shelter.
Video and photos from inside the Hamas tunnel show long concrete hallways, steel doors and rooms with tiled floors, electrical wiring and heavy ventilation systems. The soldiers who entered the tunnel described dining areas, food preparation rooms and sleeping spaces large enough to hold groups of guards and commanders. They even found a separate maintenance tunnel that carried air, water and waste, showing how carefully Hamas built the system.
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One whole section of the Hamas tunnel showed that Hamas designed it specifically to hold kidnapped people. This area contained heavy doors with small slots where guards could pass food or water through. The IDF noted that this part looked newer than the rest, suggesting Hamas may have added it recently while fighters relocated between underground sites.
Inside the Hamas Tunnel Infrastructure
As soldiers continued deeper inside, they came across more rooms connected to the main Hamas tunnel. Many contained simple beds, clothing and shelves. Others stored explosives, grenades, mortars and rocket-propelled weapons. The IDF says these materials show how the Hamas tunnel system was used both to hide fighters and to move weapons secretly.
Troops explained that battles inside tunnels are extremely dangerous. Narrow spaces, low oxygen, poor visibility and hidden traps make every step risky. But according to the IDF, their forces have become faster and more skilled at working inside tunnels after months of operations.
Inside one large chamber, soldiers said they found evidence that senior members of Hamas used the area as a safe room or planning center. This space included more equipment, work surfaces and storage areas than the other rooms, suggesting it may have been used for high-level decision-making.
The IDF also discovered weapons linked to previous attacks. They said the items showed how fighters moved through the Hamas tunnel, armed themselves and then surfaced to launch strikes before disappearing underground again. This pattern, the IDF explained, shows why these tunnels were so important to Hamas’s strategy.
One soldier pointed toward a long passage that connected straight to an area above ground where earlier attacks had taken place. He said this shows how closely Hamas tied the tunnel to operations happening on the surface.
The IDF added that Hamas once held an Israeli soldier kidnapped in 2014 in one section of the tunnel system. They explained that this area connected to several other branches, showing how wide and complicated Hamas had built the underground construction.
The Strategic Impact of Neutralizing the Hamas Tunnel
The IDF described their destruction of this enormous Hamas tunnel as a major strategic success. They said that finding such a large system directly under a UN compound demonstrated how deeply Hamas embedded tunnel construction inside civilian zones. According to the IDF, Hamas’s choice of location and the tunnel’s size made it extremely difficult to detect from above ground.
Inside various rooms, soldiers found rocket launchers, explosive devices and ammunition. They emphasized that Hamas stored these weapons underground so fighters could move them safely and secretly to attack above ground.
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Soldiers also described how carefully they checked every room, doorway and side passage. They said that Hamas had planned the entire tunnel structure for long-term use. For example, Hamas arranged multiple beds in rows in some rooms and built shelves for supplies in others. They noted that the presence of electricity, ventilation and sanitation systems showed that Hamas expected people to stay underground for extended periods.
The IDF said that dismantling this Hamas tunnel removes a major transportation and hiding route that Hamas relied on for movement, planning and launching attacks. They added that the tunnel’s size, depth and location demonstrate how much effort went into building and maintaining this underground network.
According to the IDF, this discovery marks one of the most extensive underground findings during the current operations, revealing the scale of the challenges they face as they continue uncovering similar structures across the region.