Hamas is “hoarding fuel supplies intended to help the Palestinians” … and the terror group suspects they are using it to power its underground tunnel network
There are fears that Hamas is using fuel intended to support humanitarian efforts in Gaza to power its underground tunnel network.
The Israeli Defense Forces have released aerial images purporting to show Hamas storage tanks containing “more than 500,000 liters of fuel.”
Military experts fear the terror group has begun to exploit the crisis response to Israeli airstrikes by seizing key fuel supplies.
The labyrinthine tunnel system, which stretches for hundreds of kilometers beneath the Gaza Strip, is considered Hamas’ main line of defense against an Israeli ground invasion. The tactic relies on a constant supply of fuel. Yesterday it was reported that the Israelis are ready to use a new weapon called a “sponge bomb” to disable these tunnels.
It contains chemicals that expand and harden quickly and can be thrown into the tunnels to trap attackers or secure safe routes for commandos.
There are fears that Hamas is using fuel intended to support humanitarian efforts in Gaza to power its underground tunnel network. Pictured: Smoke rises and billows in various regions of the Gaza Strip as the Israeli army conducts 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 electricity for its underground terror city where it has its command and control, weapons manufacturing, storage and residential facilities.”
With such an extensive network, maintaining air and light circulation is essential to operations – all of which require generators and therefore fuel. Hamas will and will prioritize its own needs over the need for hospitals, water and the provision of humanitarian aid.
“Hamas would use the pretext of a fuel shortage to put pressure on the international community. They will withhold it from people so that their suffering can be spread.
The Israelis have fired “bunker buster” concussion rockets to destroy Hamas’ extensive network of tunnels under Gaza, according to a report. Pictured: Smoke rises 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 maintain pressure on Israel.” The United Nations has warned that aid efforts in Gaza will have to be paused due to a lack of fuel. Israel has cut off supply routes to the densely populated, 25-mile-long stretch of land as part of a strategy to starve Hamas of resources.
Bruno Tertrais, deputy director of FRS, a French security think tank, said: “In Gaza there is fuel for diesel generators.” Enough fuel. But Hamas needs a lot of it to power its own generators to circulate air in the underground city.
“So Hamas keeps the fuel (and sometimes steals it from the United Nations), and Gazans don’t get it.”
As their expected ground offensive began last night, it emerged that Israeli troops had reportedly used hand-held “sponge bomb” devices in the IDF’s “mini-Gaza Strip,” a replica of Hamas’s urban labyrinth located at the Urban Warfare Training Center in Israel was built in the 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 in court proceedings.