Avi Issacharoff, the creator of Israel’s ‘Fauda,’ discusses Hamas’s vast tunnel network in Gaza and its strategy to draw the IDF into the Palestinian enclave.
By Debbie Weiss, Algemeiner
Avi Issacharoff, the journalist and creator of the acclaimed Israel television show Fauda, said the network of terror tunnels built by Hamas in Gaza is “unimaginable” in scope and size, and that the terrorist group had both “predicted and wanted” to lure the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) into the Palestinian enclave.
“The Israeli army is dealing with the biggest catch-22 you can imagine,” Issacharoff told journalists on Monday, describing the dilemma faced by the IDF after the Oct. 7 massacre, in which Hamas terrorists took refuge in the extensive tunnel network, anticipating and manipulating Israel’s response. The terrorists are “under the houses and neighborhoods of Gaza City, hoping that Israel won’t attack them because they’re hiding underneath human shields, and that if Israel will attack those neighborhoods, it’ll kill many civilians, and the whole world is going to accuse Israel for war crimes, which is just what we’re seeing.”
“The sad thing about all this is Hamas doesn’t care about their own people,” the Arabic-speaking journalist said. “That is the cynical aim of Hamas. Not only to kill Israelis but for as many Palestinian civilians [as possible] to be killed.”
The IDF is targeting Hamas infrastructure using intense artillery and air raids, as well as a ground offensive that was launched on Oct. 28 with the aim of eventually reaching the tunnels themselves. Until now the IDF “didn’t even start to really deal with all Gaza’s tunnels, infrastructure. It’s huge. It’s something that we cannot even imagine,” said Issacharoff, who has studied Hamas for 23 years as a journalist and an analyst.
“It’s a huge system of tunnels that allow Hamas to transport terrorists and hostages, but also motorbikes and artillery and rockets and everything you can imagine,” he said, adding that it was 2,000 times larger than the Củ Chi tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the war in Vietnam.
The tunnels, which cover almost the entire Gaza Strip, not only house terrorists and weaponry but also represent a darker, unseen front line where the rules of engagement are constantly challenged. Because Hamas understands that the IDF is far more powerful, it has resorted to guerilla tactics, which include dispatching small terror cells out of the tunnels and launching a drone or RPG attack, he said.
The outcome of the Oct. 7 atrocities now unfolding in Gaza, according to Issacharoff, was not only predicted by Hamas but was actively sought after. Nevertheless, Issacharoff highlighted the IDF’s progress, saying it was making gains towards Hamas’ stronghold, the center of Gaza City: “Israel is also making some very impressive military progress, managing to get to many Hamas leaders,” he said, noting that the IDF had killed some 2,000 Hamas commanders. The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry has so far put the death toll close to 10,000 people, but it is impossible to verify that number or to know how many of the dead are terrorists.
While Issacharoff acknowledged that the terror group was far from weak, the IDF strikes were causing “heavy damage” to Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
One of the IDF’s most challenging tasks, he said, would be to reach Hamas’ headquarters underneath the Gaza Strip’s largest medical center, Dar Al-Shifa Hospital. The hospital is also where Hamas’ fuel reserves are kept.
“Every kid in Gaza knows that under Shifa, there’s a Hamas headquarters. But no one talks about it,” he said. “I don’t know how we deal with it. I hope that the IDF has some solutions for it.”
An airstrike launched by Israel targeted a convoy of ambulances outside Al-Shifa, leading to the death of 15 individuals and injuring at least 50 others. The IDF released a statement confirming the strike and saying that a targeted ambulance was being “used by a Hamas terrorist cell in close proximity to their position in the battle zone.”
“A number of Hamas terrorist operatives were killed in the strike … We have information which demonstrates that Hamas’ method of operation is to transfer terror operatives and weapons in ambulances,” the statement said.
Issacharoff, who was shot by a Hamas terrorist in 1994, claimed that the IDF was no longer managing a campaign of exclusively precision strikes as it had in the past in previous rounds of conflict with Gaza.
“This is not a surgical operation, this is war,’ Issacharoff said, “and maybe my government or the IDF won’t like me saying that.”
But, he emphasized, Israel was left with no choice.