The WSJ report on Saturday quoted US and Israeli officials as saying that some 80% of the tunnels made and used by Hamas remain intact after some 114 days of Israeli efforts to destroy the vast warren of tunnels.
The Israeli regime had wished to disable the 300-mile (482.8-kilometer) tunnel network in a bid to affect the maneuverability of Hamas fighters in Gaza and to stop their retaliatory attacks on Israeli forces, the report mentioned, adding that the Israelis also wanted to demolish the arms cache and command centers of Hamas through attacks on the tunnels.
Despite using various tactics such as pumping water from the Mediterranean into the tunnels and using sniff dogs and robots, the Israeli military has failed to achieve its goals in the Gaza tunnel system, said the report.
Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense and officer in the Marine Corps and Central Intelligence Agency, said that Hamas's strategy revolves around the tunnels—it is their center of gravity, and that Palestinian fighters needed the tunnels to level the battlefield with the Israeli military.
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