Israel-Hamas War Megathread, December 19 and ongoing

Yehuda Kfir, an expert in underground warfare, says the IDF can't keep bombing buildings and infrastructure to locate Hamas's tunnels: 'We need to dig from our side to theirs' (Times of Israel)

The issue facing the IDF is not just the number of tunnels or their length, engineer and underground warfare expert Brig. Gen. (res) Yehuda Kfir told The Times of Israel’s sister site, Zman Yisrael. Kfir previously headed up underground warfare in the IDF’s Technological and Logistics Directorate, and continued his research and work in the field after his years of service.

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“In the field of historical research on underground warfare, it is clear that when the generals are talking about numbers and sizes [of tunnels], there’s a problem. If they’re counting the bodies of enemy combatants, or kilometrage, or the number of shells, that’s a sign that things are not going well,” said Kfir in an interview.

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The defense establishment knew there were tunnels in the Erez Crossing area, but the evidence released by the IDF Spokesperson recently gave us more details, especially on the engineering work that went into this particular tunnel. What did you learn from the footage?

Yehuda Kfir: The clip shows the development of new excavation tools, including an improvised tunnel boring machine (TBM), much like the one used to dig the Tel Aviv Metro.

Of course, there’s also the round shape of the tunnel, and we’re seeing a lot of steel, which is relatively new; they’re using steel and not concrete like we saw in Operation Protective Edge [in 2014]. The tunnels in these videos are more sophisticated; they really invested in them.

Where is the steel used? And how did Hamas get it?

Steel is a higher quality material, it’s more convenient to work with, and it’s more expensive. This underlines that money is no issue for Hamas. They’ve got a lot more money than they had back in 2014.

In terms of the use, you can see it in the heavy, armored doors. It’s clear that they’re of a high standard.

The steel needs to be transported, fashioned in a proper workshop inside Gaza, and then installed. It appears that steel is being imported from outside the Strip. The steel is also used to produce rocket launchers and the missiles themselves.

We see the steel doors over and over in footage of tunnels, so we can assume that if we’ve seen some of them, there are many steel doors in the rest of the tunnels. It’s clear that they’re not having any problems getting heavy materials.

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I learned new things about the tools Hamas is using, and about their capabilities, including rotary hand drills, which need two people to operate. This shows the development of excavation tools which, to the best of my knowledge, are not available on the commercial market. It looks like a local improvisation of a simple drilling device, and it teaches us that they’ve got a “Development Department” that’s up and running. They’re not sitting around, but rather investing in improving their excavation abilities.

The IDF said this tunnel went down as far as 50 meters. Why do they need such depth?

The IDF previously believed Hamas was excavating to a depth of 30 meters, because that’s groundwater level. Sunday’s revelations of a 50-meter-deep tunnel, below groundwater level, shows that Hamas overcame another technological hurdle, because building at that depth is highly complicated. From an engineering perspective, when there’s water around during excavation, there’s constant pressure — and whoever’s doing the building and the digging under the groundwater could drown without specialized pumping equipment to dispose of water and prevent flooding.

We’re talking about technology that’s above average. That is to say, compared to what we know about their capabilities up until Operation Protective Edge, it marks a big jump.

But the deeper you are, the more protected you are. Their need to dig deeper comes from the fact that the IDF developed deep explosive capabilities from 2017. There was an incident in which a number of Islamic Jihad men were buried in a cross-border tunnel. So Hamas learned its lesson. It understood that, in order to survive, it needed to dig deeper.

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The IDF method is frustrating and we can’t keep using it, because it involves destroying infrastructure and buildings above ground in order to get to what’s underneath.

In the first stage [of the ground offensive], the IDF had a broad mandate for widespread destruction [as it sought to dismantle Hamas]. Obviously, we can’t uncover tunnels in that way in Khan Younis and Rafah, so deciphering what’s going on underground will have to be done another way — to reveal what’s underground without destroying the buildings and infrastructure above.

I believe the way to do it is by digging from our side toward them, while inserting smart tools — sensors, microphones and robots, anything that can penetrate the tunnels and bring us intelligence on where they’re located.

Ben Gvir says ministers should have say on internal army issues; IDF chief: You’re wrong (Times of Israel)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir reportedly harangued IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi during a security cabinet meeting on Monday, berating him over the suspension of several soldiers who had filmed themselves singing Hanukkah songs and reciting the Jewish Shema (Hear, O Israel) prayer over a loudspeaker system in a mosque in the West Bank city of Jenin.

According to leaks to Hebrew media, during a security briefing delivered to the cabinet by Halevi, Ben Gvir criticized the decision to suspend the soldiers involved in the incident, accusing the chief of staff of harming the morale of the troops and asserting cabinet responsibility for internal IDF decisions.

Halevi retorted that the cabinet has no such right, and reportedly at one point warned Ben Gvir not to threaten him.

Several other ministers also critiqued the IDF and the progress of the war during the Monday night meeting, leaks from the discussion indicated.

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In response, Halevi reminded Ben Gvir that the army “is the one who decides about the soldiers. We are talking about IDF soldiers, and we make decisions about them, it isn’t a matter for the cabinet.”

He added that the soldiers’ actions violated the army’s code of conduct and went against the values of the IDF.

The incident in the Jenin mosque occurred amid a three-day operation in the northern West Bank city, during which troops detained hundreds of suspects and seized weapons.

In a statement announcing their suspension, the military said the soldiers’ behavior was “completely contrary to IDF values.”

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Several ministers came to Halevi’s defense, telling Ben Gvir not to speak rudely to the chief of staff.

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In what was characterized as an “infantile exchange,” Channel 12 quoted several ministers as asking Halevi, “When will we see an achievement?” They specified that by “an achievement,” they meant bringing home the hostages, destroying Hamas’s capabilities and eliminating its commanders.

Halevi, in response, reportedly told the ministers, “Hitting the commanders takes time. It took [the US] 10 years to deliver the head of [Osama] bin Laden. The best people are working on it here, so it’ll take a lot less time.”

Justice Minister Yariv Levin retorted: “We went into Gaza so that it would take 10 years? It’ll take 10 years to destroy Hamas?”

Chiming in, Miri Regev asked, “Who’ll be here to see the result?” to which Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, Levin and Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel responded, “We will. We’ll be here in another 10 years.”

Unsatisfied, Regev again repeated, “We need it in a lot less than 10 years.”

Ministers also reportedly criticized Halevi for the IDF ostensibly being surprised to discover a massive Hamas tunnel in northern Gaza, which the military publicized on Sunday.

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Ministers also reportedly asked security officials at the meeting how Israel could gain greater leverage over Hamas.

“What influences the Hamas leadership? Maybe what would have influence is what various experts [an apparent reference to former IDF general Giora Eiland] who have appeared before the cabinet have suggested, to carry out starvation?”

National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi: “What are you on about? We’re not talking about starvation here.”

Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara: “Starvation is a war crime.”

Regev said she wanted to clarify “for the protocol” that an expert had spoken at the cabinet and suggested starvation. “I asked what you think of what your former colleague said. Maybe that would influence Hamas’s leadership.”

Halevi, using a Hebrew expression: “You make a bonfire out of trees, not advice.”

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Former IDF operations chief Yisrael Ziv said Tuesday night that the ministers showed an utter lack of responsibility and that their behavior was unacceptable at a time of war. “This is total absence of leadership,” he said. “It’s fortunate that Herzi is running the war and not these people.”