Tel Aviv, 8 November 2023 (dpa/MIA) - The Israeli army says it has destroyed a total of 130 tunnel shafts belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war a month ago.

The military released videos on Wednesday showing heavy equipment digging up tunnel entrances and lifting up a concrete slab.

Water and air supplies in the tunnels were evidence of planned longer stays, the statement said. The army had also discovered tunnel shafts under a Hamas training camp in the northern Gaza Strip, which has been destroyed.

The Israelis say there is a complex network of underground tunnels in the sandy soil of the Gaza Strip, which is around 45 kilometres long and around 6 to 14 kilometres wide and has a population of more than two million.

Some of the tunnels are supplied with electricity. On average, they are 2 metres high and one metre wide, but some are also large enough for vehicles. Some reach dozens of metres underground in order to withstand Israeli bombing from the air.

Their entrances are said to be located in residential buildings or mosques. The Israeli intelligence services say Hamas operates its command and control centre under the Shifa Hospital, the largest clinic in the Gaza Strip, for example, something that Hamas denies.

Military expert Harel Chorev from Tel Aviv University told the US broadcaster CNN: "We are talking about dozens and dozens of kilometres underground with command, control and communication rooms, supply rooms, and piers for launching their rockets."

Photo: MIA archive