\n\n“Beneath us are, according to the Israeli colonel accompanying us, 160 miles of tunnels radiating out from Khan Younis. The scale is staggering. Gaza itself is only 25 miles long and barely seven miles wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Friday morning, a Telegraph reporter and photographer were escorted into a suburb of Gaza\u2019s southernmost city by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) largely to give a better understanding of how the war is being waged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tunnels explain Israel\u2019s slow progress. It\u2019s been almost four months since the massacre in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 people taken hostage. By Israel\u2019s standards, this is an already overlong war. Since the start of the conflict, more than 200 IDF soldiers have died, including 24 last week on the deadliest day of the campaign for the Israeli military.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He likens the tunnels to the London Underground, many of them interconnected but also serving different purposes. \u201cI cannot go into details but today we feel we have a very good solution for the tunnels,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Incrementally, the IDF has been able to map them out. \u201cEvery second or third building has an entrance shaft. It can be in the courtyard or inside the building itself. The network is so extensive. Each tunnel is marked with an icon. They [the marks] are usually by the entrance shaft,\u201d says Lt Col Anshi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the street battles in Khan Younis, Hamas fighters can suddenly appear from nowhere. \u201cThey jump out with an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade]. We are not fighting an organised conventional army but small squads of four to six fighters. Our main challenge is to shoot them in the few seconds when they are popping out of the hole,\u201d says Lt Col Anshi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s like the fairground game of whack-a-mole, but with dire consequences for the loser. \u201cThere is no army vs army like in the old days. It is two terrorists coming out of a hole shooting and we are firing back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we stand discussing the progress of the war, the gunfire coming from the city intensifies. From time to time \u2013 every 10 minutes or maybe less \u2013 a huge explosion rings out and accompanying smoke, black or dark grey billows into the sky.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n