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The original was posted on /r/worldnews by /u/LosFeliz3000 on 2023-10-26 03:29:59.
Hamas tunnels under Gaza stretch miles, holding hostages and weapons
Submitted 2 years ago by bot@lemmit.online [bot] to worldnews@lemmit.online
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/25/hamas-gaza-tunnels/
autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] 2 years ago
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Far below densely populated neighborhoods of the Gaza Strip, Hamas militants have long used an intricate network of tunnels as a base for military operations, weapons storage and even as living quarters.
While the tunnels have in previous flare-ups of violence served to move people and supplies, and as bunkers or redoubts, they pose a distinct challenge to any large-scale Israeli ground operation to strike at Hamas.
Following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and Hamas’s accession to power the following year, the “nature of the tunnels began to change,” said Daphne Richemond-Barak, an assistant professor at Reichman University in Israel and the author of “Underground Warfare.”
The loose ground in Gaza — compared with hard rock along Israel’s border with Lebanon — is easy to dig through, allowing Hamas to expand the network quickly, said John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at the U.S. Military Academy.
The tunnels are a complicating factor for Israel and allies in efforts to free the hostages: The network is vast, complex, nearly impossible to map out and difficult to penetrate.
Spencer noted that it’s difficult to execute offensive operations inside the tunnels because navigation and communication systems often don’t work so far underground, and even night-vision goggles struggle, as they require some ambient light.
The original article contains 1,095 words, the summary contains 222 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!