The Gaza Strip
The southwest portion of this Iranian-mastered militarized noose is the Iranian proxies in the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip is not part of the corridor—but it is the southwestern edge of the crescent.
Since Hamas gained control of Gaza in 2007, there have been ongoing attacks and counterattacks and escalating military rounds in 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2021 between Israel and Iranian agents, namely Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Palestine.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Palestine (IJIP) are Palestinian Sunni organizations armed and financed by the mullah regime. They have approximately 20,000 rockets aimed at Israel’s cities, towns, and villages. Their military forces are thousands of militants strong.
Since 2007, the rounds of violence between Israel and Gaza-based Palestinian organizations have escalated. The militarization of the conflict has intensified—more weapons and more lethal weapons.
Civilians on both sides—in Israel and Gaza are on the front lines and in the line of fire—it is a ‘Lunatic Reality’ for everyone involved.
Gaza Tunnels
Like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Islamic Jihad also dig tunnels into Israeli territory.
The purpose of the tunnels from Gaza into southern Israel is the same as the tunnels drilled into Israel from Lebanon in the north; to send an underground stream of thousands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants to occupy Israeli communities located near the Israel-Gaza border. Different from Lebanon, the soil around the Gaza Strip is soft. You can dig in it with an ice cream scooper.
Taking advantage of the terrain, Hamas and Islamic Jihad built a network of dozens of very sophisticated border-crossing tunnels. Many are equipped with electricity, advanced communication systems, elevators to transfer militants and weapons, etc.
You may remember that, in 2006, an Israeli soldier named Gilad Shalit was abducted by militants from Gaza. That is the way he was kidnapped.
The tunnels from Gaza, like Hezbollah’s tunnels in Lebanon, are financed by Iran.
Like it did in its northern border, Israel has exposed and neutralized many of the underground tunnels crossing from Gaza into Israel.
To address the threat of the tunnels, Israel has developed technological and intelligence capacities that exposed and neutralized many underground tunnels crossing from Gaza into Israel. In addition, over the past few years, Israel has been building a barrier along its twenty-five-mile-long border with the Gaza Strip. The obstacle is meant to address the threat of intrusive tunnels from Gaza. The barrier consists of two major elements. An underground wall going as deep as 200 feet (that wall includes advanced technological capabilities to detect underground movement). And an above-ground, twenty-foot-high metal fence.
Egypt also struggles to stop the intrusive and border crossing smuggling tunnels.
Egypt shares an eight-mile-long border with the Gaza Strip.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Palestine have built a massive and intricate network of tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border. Estimates are that they have created more than one thousand underground passages that are used to smuggle weapons, fuel, commodities, narcotics, etc.
Since 2014, Egypt has taken various measures to put a stop to these tunnels. Their efforts have included flooding the tunnels with sewage water, razing communities and neighborhoods on the Egyptian side of the border so Egypt can create a wide buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza, and building concrete barriers and walls.
Egypt is also building an additional layer—a massive iron fence along its border with Gaza.
If you want to have a better understanding of the news and what really drives the unfolding events…
Read the latest book of Avi Melamed,
INSIDE THE MIDDLE EAST | ENTERING A NEW ERA, available now >>>
Follow me on Twitter @AviMelamed; Facebook @InsideTheMiddleEast; for more Videos on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/AviMelamed
