By Zein Khalil
JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli officials have characterized the tunnels in the Gaza Strip as a "spider web," indicating that the Israeli army remains unaware of their full extent even after more than nine months since the ground invasion started on Oct. 27, Israeli media reported on Saturday.
In a detailed report, Israeli Channel 12 cited an unnamed Israeli security official as saying: "It's like a spider web: if you cut one tunnel, alternative tunnels will automatically appear and this can continue."
The channel also quoted another security official who stated: "We still do not have a complete understanding of the tunnel network, and we lack a firm and absolute control over the entire tunnel project.”
“When the ground invasion of the Strip began on Oct. 27, 2023, the Israeli army encountered Hamas's capability to conduct an organized defensive battle from underground," said an Israeli officer, according to the same channel, which did not disclose the officer's name or rank.
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
Nearly 39,300 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 90,600 injured, according to local health authorities.
Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
* Writing by Ikram Kouachi