The hunt for Hamas command HQ

For six weeks Israel defence forces (IDF)have been engaged in the toughest urban warfare operation in modern times, confronting an enemy concealed underground in a population-dense environment. Now, with an expected five-day pause in the fighting to allow for the release of women and children held hostage since October 7, Israeli commanders still have to resolve one of the biggest challenges, finding and destroying the main underground bunkers from where Hamas leaders have been orchestrating their war with Israel. Once northern Gaza was under their control, much of the IDF focus has been aimed at proving to the world that the headquarters of Hamas was buried under the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Initially, apart from an abandoned-looking entrance to a possible tunnel near the hospital and an array of Kalashnikovs and other fighting material laid out for visiting world media, there was little evidence that the IDF had uncovered the beating heart of Hamas’s military stronghold. However, in new evidence last night, the IDF revealed it had found a deep tunnel structure beneath the hospital, complete with reinforced doors to protect Hamas commanders and fighters. Israel will see this discovery as a breakthrough in convincing doubters that Hamas has been using bunkers beneath civilian buildings to prosecute its terror campaign. The IDF has a special unit called Yahalom (diamond in Hebrew) which is armed with precision explosives and other high-tech weapons to destroy tunnels. But the uncertain whereabouts of the 240 hostages as well as questions raised about the Hamas headquarters under the hospital stalled the plans. Will the IDF special unit now set about destroying the tunnel complex under the al-Shifa hospital or will attention shift to southern Gaza and, in particular, to the city of Khan Yunis where “the real” Hamas headquarters is based underground, according to Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister? The IDF will still be faced with the same dual challenge it found in northern Gaza, eliminating Hamas structures without causing catastrophic collateral damage. It failed in the northern phase because thousands of civilians died and apartment blocks were reduced to rubble. The southern phase will have to be more focused, especially as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians moved there from the north, as advised by the IDF.