A remarkable video of Israeli Defense Force (IDF) attack dogs racing through the extensive network of tunnels built by Hamas with pilfered foreign aid money and taking the terrorists down in close combat was released Saturday by Ofir Gendelman, spokesman to the Arab world for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The dogs were equipped with GoPro-style cameras, which included microphones. “Hear the terrorists scream,” Gendelman said, and indeed those sounds are included in the clip below. (Warning for potentially disturbing content.)
The Arabic says: Dogs go after Hamas' dogs, until victory is achieved. https://t.co/VnUmdcuiau
— Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) November 4, 2023
The Hamas terror tunnel network, constructed at lavish expense over many years with funds and supplies skimmed from humanitarian relief efforts, have been a focus of the Israeli war effort ever since the IDF launched its response to the Hamas atrocities of 10/7. Maintaining the tunnel network requires fuel and ventilation equipment, which Hamas has also looted from humanitarian relief operations and hospitals.
Many of the tunnels were reportedly constructed with child labor in blatant violation of international law, and some of those children were killed during the treacherous construction effort.
IDF combat engineers have been systematically clearing and destroying the tunnel network as it works through Gaza. Huge caches of weapons and fuel stolen from Gaza civilians have been discovered underground. IDF engineers estimate that complete demolition will take months, especially since many of the tunnels are booby-trapped, and Hamas uses them to launch surprise attacks against Israeli soldiers.
File/Members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas, at the funeral of Mohammed Abed in Rafah in the Gaza Strip on February 16, 2022. Mohammed Abed, 24, died after one of the tunnels used by the armed wing collapsed in Gaza City. (SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty)
“We are going to collapse the entrances and the tunnels on them. It will become a death zone. They made a mistake, they chose to be in a place they cannot escape from. They will die in the tunnels,” a senior IDF officer said last week.
Hamas made a point of building its tunnels beneath civilian structures, another blatant violation of international law. The collapse of these tunnel networks after airstrikes has caused enormous damage to civilian infrastructure and loss of life.
A Hamas spokesman admitted to Russian media last week that the tunnels are exclusively reserved for the use of terrorist operatives. None of the tunnels were intended for use as civilian bomb shelters.
