Inside the ‘terror tunnels’ of Gaza: Extraordinary video taken within 300-mile snaking network illustrates momentous task facing Israel as they fight Hamas

This extraordinary video filmed inside the ‘terror tunnels’ under Gaza graphically illustrates the momentous scale of the task facing the Israelis as they try to root out and eliminate Hamas.

A Russia Today (RT) reporter was allowed a rare visit inside the so-called ‘Gaza Metro’ which snakes for up to 300 miles under the war-torn enclave.

As the clip emerged, senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk was asked by another RT interviewer why they didn’t allow the beleaguered civilian population to shelter from the bombing in the tunnels.

His reply spoke volumes: ‘Protecting Gaza civilians is the responsibility of the UN and Israel…We have built the tunnels to protect ourselves from getting targeted and killed. These are meant to protect us from the airplanes.’

The RT journalist entered the network by being lowered by an electric hoist 200ft (60m) below the ground.

A Russia Today (RT) reporter was allowed a rare visit inside the so-called ‘Gaza Metro’ which snakes for up to 300 miles under the war-torn enclave. Once below the reporter is able to stand upright and walk past row upon row of propaganda posters as masked terrorists from Hamas’s allies Islamic Jihad crouch down with assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades

It’s believed the footage was filmed before the present conflict but one of the terrorists tells the interviewer that the young fighters behind him are prepared to stay down there for ‘days or months’

All sides of the tunnels are lined with reinforced concrete and the roof is arched to add extra strength.

Once below the reporter is able to stand upright and walk past row upon row of propaganda posters as masked terrorists from Hamas’s allies Islamic Jihad crouch down with assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades.

It’s believed the footage was filmed before the present conflict but one of the terrorists tells the interviewer that the young fighters behind him are prepared to stay down there for ‘days or months’.

Hamas’s military engineers have become skilled at rigging up the concrete-lined tunnels and installing ventilation, electric lighting and telephone lines, all of which can be seen as the reporter makes his way among the terrorists.

Terrorists can also be seen running along the tunnels in the film carrying weapons and meanwhile others are digging by hand to extend the network still further.

A Palestinian walks among the rubble following an Israeli airstrike in Al Sheikh Redwan neighbourhood in northern Gaza City on Tuesday

The Israeli troops planning to enter the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday and were stationed in the Al-Tawam area and Al-Karama neighborhood in the Palestinian enclave

Palestinians search for survivors in the rubble of a building in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday

In 2014 a reporter for Hamas’s own newspaper joined a team of diggers, describing them as ‘bees in a hive,’ adding they were motivated by the belief that ‘every inch they dig helps spill the blood of an Israeli soldier or kidnap one.’

After many tunnels were found and destroyed by the Israelis in the 2014 Gaza war, a monitoring process was designed to prevent Hamas from diverting building materials to building tunnels.

But despite CCTV cameras on building sites and a laborious approval process, Hamas were able to seize or buy the materials they needed on the black market.

Recycled concrete and rubble from destroyed housess and scrap metal were also used and in 2021 the Israeli newspaper Haaretz claimed that poor supervision of the system meant Israel was effectively supplying Hamas with concrete for its tunnel construction.

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