An Iranian military chief has said that Hamas have built more than 400 kilometres of underground tunnels in northern Gaza.
The Iranian military chief of staff General Mohammad Baqeri said that Israel will suffer a “humiliating defeat” in their ground offensive which is now in day four.
Tasnim news agency reported, “In the northern section of Gaza, what the [Palestinian] fighters report is that they have built more than 400 kilometers of tunnels.
“Vehicles and motorcycles can pass through some of them,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
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He added, “the tunnels have an entrance in the Gaza Strip, while their other end is behind the barriers and [Israeli] forces.”
Baqeri said the Israeli army are pausing their ground invasion of Gaza “because they are mindful that such an operation will mark another defeat.”
The Iranian military chief insisted that “Palestinian combatants are prepared for an Israeli ground attack.”
The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) spokesmad Daniel Hagari has said that the military are expanding their operations in the territory.
Rear Adm. Hagari claimed that Hamas fighter are “barricading” themselves into “staging rooms” as they are being attacked from the air.
The Times of Israel reported that Hagari said, “Overnight, troops eliminated dozens of terrorists who barricaded themselves in the buildings and tried to attack the forces that were moving in their direction.”
Hagari added, “We are carrying out an expanded ground operation into the Strip… forces are moving toward the terrorists, the terrorists are barricading themselves in staging grounds, and we are attacking them from the air.”
“Hamas has spent two decades building the labyrinth of deep, defensive tunnels to resist any ground assault by Israeli troops. It started building them in Gaza even before Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza in 2005.”
