There are fears that Hamas is using fuel intended to help humanitarian efforts in Gaza to power its underground tunnel network.
The Israeli military has published aerial photos purporting to show Hamas storage tanks containing “more than 500,000 liters of fuel.”
Military experts are concerned that the terror group has begun to exploit the crisis response to Israeli airstrikes by seizing critical fuel supplies.
The labyrinthine system of tunnels that snake under the Gaza Strip and are believed to stretch for hundreds of kilometers is considered Hamas’s main defense against an Israeli ground invasion. The tactic depends on a constant fuel supply. Yesterday it was reported that the Israelis are about to use a new weapon, the ‘sponge bomb’, to disable these tunnels.
It contains chemicals that expand and harden quickly, and can be dropped into the tunnels to trap attackers or secure safe routes for commandos.
There are fears that Hamas is using fuel intended to help humanitarian efforts in Gaza to power its underground tunnel network. Pictured: Smoke rises and billows in several regions of Gaza as the Israeli army carries out airstrikes on October 28
The IDF claims that Shifa Hospital (pictured) – the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip – actually houses the terrorist organization’s headquarters
Philip Ingram, a former British Army intelligence officer, said: ‘Hamas needs power for their underground terror city, where they have their command and control, weapons production and storage and living facilities.
With such an extensive network, maintaining air and light flow is essential to function – all of which requires generators and therefore fuel. Hamas will prioritize their own needs over what is needed for hospitals, for water and for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
“Using the pretense of a lack of fuel as a means of putting pressure on the international community is a tactic that Hamas would use; they will deny it from the people, so that their sufferings may be broadcast.
According to one report, the Israelis have unleashed “bunker buster” concussion rockets in an attempt to destroy the extensive Hamas tunnel network under Gaza. Pictured: Smoke rising from explosions caused by Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip
How Israeli sponge bombs could be used to trap Hamas terrorists in underground tunnels
“This is all part of their broader plan to keep pressure on Israel.” The United Nations has warned that aid efforts in Gaza will have to be halted due to a lack of fuel. Israel has cut off supply routes to reach the densely populated 40-kilometer stretch of land as part of a strategy to deprive Hamas of raw materials.
Bruno Tertrais, deputy director of FRS, a French security think tank, said: “There is fuel for diesel generators in Gaza. Sufficient fuel. But Hamas needs a lot of it to power its own generators for air circulation in the underground city.
“So Hamas keeps the fuel (and sometimes steals it from the UN), and Gazans don’t get it.”
As their expected ground offensive began last night, it emerged that Israeli forces are believed to have used portable ‘sponge bombs’ in the IDF’s ‘mini Gaza’, a replica of Hamas’s urban habitat built at the Urban Warfare Training Center in the Gaza Strip. Negev desert.
According to The Telegraph, the bombs contain liquids that react on contact. The material is said to be so dangerous that Israeli troops were blinded during trials.