The Gaza Strip itself is only some 360 square kilometers (140 square miles), roughly twice the size of Washington, D.C.“They started saying that they destroyed 100 kilometers (62 miles) of Hamas tunnels. I am telling you that the tunnels we have in the Gaza Strip exceed 500 kilometers,” Sinwar said following a bloody 11-day war with Israel. But fully dislodging Hamas will require clearing those tunnels, where militants can pop up behind advancing Israeli troops. During a 2014 war, Hamas militants killed at least 11 Israeli soldiers after infiltrating into Israel through tunnels. AN ADDITIONAL LAYER OF COMPLEXITYYet in all those cases, advancing militaries did not face the challenge that Israel does now with Hamas’ tunnel system.

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