Tunnels have been a part of life in Gaza for decades. In 1989, Hamas terror mastermind Mahmoud Al-Mahbrouh used one to evade Israeli security forces.2 By the mid-1990s, tunnels were being dug from Rafah into Egypt; they were used to smuggle anything that could fit in the narrow passages, from cigarettes and guns to fuel, farm animals, and even cars.
Tunnels were used to plant explosives underneath IDF positions, targeting Israeli soldiers who were stationed in Gaza until 2005. In 2001, a powerful bomb was detonated in a tunnel under an IDF base in Gaza; the blast blew out a 15-foot section of the first-floor wall and heaved soldiers through the air, injuring at least three.3 In 2004, hundreds of kilograms of explosives inside a 350-meter tunnel were detonated under an IDF outpost in Gaza, killing one soldier and injuring five others.4
In June 2006, less than a year after Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas used a tunnel to sneak into Israel, ambush IDF soldiers, and kidnap Gilad Shalit.5 In doing so, Hamas revealed that it had invested vast sums of money to prepare for subterranean warfare. “This was one of the most asymmetrical incidents in recent memory,” a senior Israeli intelligence official recalled. “One Israeli soldier was held for five and a half years and traded [in 2011] for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.” Another top official agreed: “This was a proof of concept for them. Tunnels work.”6
Years later, Hamas leader Khaled Mashal explained his group’s thinking: “In light of the balance of power which shifted towards Israel, we had to be creative in finding innovative ways. The tunnels were one of our innovations. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.”7
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