Brigadier General Ofer Winter once boasted about a solution he developed as Givati Brigade commander during Operation Protective Edge to combat tunnels: place a large fan over a shaft, throw in a smoke grenade—and the smoke emerges from nearby shafts, exposing them. They named the system “Purple Fox,” after the Givati Brigade’s symbol. It was an excellent solution for 2014. But since then, the tunnels have advanced and Hamas has adapted.
The current war broke out, and at its outset Winter whispered the idea into the ear of one of the division commanders. The method of destruction developed since then is like democracy: the worst method—except for all the others.
But a dramatic and troubling revelation was tucked into the Prime Minister’s speech this week. For months it was said that the IDF had destroyed almost all the tunnels in Gaza; later, during the ceasefire, the figure suddenly dropped to 60 percent. Then Netanyahu came and announced: there are 500 kilometers of tunnels in the Strip; we have eliminated 150 of them. Seventy percent still exist.
The tunnels are Hamas’s Dimona. When speaking of strategic weapons—this is the weapon. If the vast majority survived, even after intense fighting, can the rest even be destroyed?
Add to that what soldiers in the field are saying. One claims Hamas has resumed digging, this time with shovels and children paid 20 shekels a day. There is no shortage of shovels, children, or money in the Strip.
Another officer speaks of more and more tunnels being found inside the “yellow line.” The IDF conducted a massive statistical drilling effort—one borehole every 14 meters. Dozens of tunnels were discovered, yet even afterward additional shafts are being found.
Another officer likens the tunnels within Hamas-controlled territory to a tree, and their extensions into our territory to branches. We prune the branches, but Hamas’s digging makes them grow back. Very troubling.
And yet Southern Command paints a different and far more optimistic picture. When the Prime Minister spoke of destruction, he referred only to tunnels completely demolished with tons of explosives every 100 meters. In addition, another 200 kilometers were neutralized by pumping in concrete—something that could theoretically be drilled through, but practically cannot. Moreover, the method involves blowing up the entrance and exit of a tunnel, leaving middle segments that are not counted as destroyed but are unusable. The IDF also completely rejects the claim of significant renewed digging or tunnel rehabilitation.
In territory under Israeli control, only about 40 kilometers remain untreated. Within two to three months, an announcement is expected that there are no more tunnels near Israel. How does that square with the militants who emerged this week from a tunnel in Beit Hanoun, a kilometer inside the yellow line? The army claims they survived for months on dates above ground and were eliminated when they emerged from a partially ruined section as soldiers pumped explosives into it.
So how does one decide, after October 7, whether to listen to senior command or to soldiers in the field? Perhaps by focusing on the shared message: the path to defeating Hamas runs through eliminating the tunnels even in territory not under our control. More than 100 kilometers remain.
They will not be destroyed remotely. If they are to be destroyed, it will only be from the ground.
