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On The Ground

(And Underground)

In Gaza

Israel seeks to destroy Hamas' vast
network of tunnels.

Elior Levy I Ynet News

Inside one of Hamas' tunnels leading to Israel

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The use of the tunnels as launching pits
is the result of the lessons learned follow-
ing Operation Cast Lead: Senior members
of the Gaza factions' military wings esti-
mated that the rocket launchers served as
a very easy target for the IDF due to Israeli
technological supremacy.
At first they tried to fire from populated
areas, from schools and even from ceme-
teries, but the relatively accurate thwarting
of these attempts required a different solu-
tion, and they decided to use the tunnels.
In addition to improving the rocket
fire, the tunnels also provided a hiding
place for the activists. A large part of the
Gaza leadership and the military wing's
top commanders survived thanks to these
tunnels. The contribution of these tun-
nels proved itself during Operation Pillar
of Defense in 2012, and their use only
increased later on.

One of these tunnels was unearthed
near Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha last year. Its
entrance was located near the Southern
Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. It's not the
only one: According to estimates, there are
additional tunnels in Gaza that end under
Israeli territory, and there are usually large
gaps between them. The reason is the
attempt to ensure — especially if the tun-
nels are also being used as launching pits
— that even if one of them is destroyed in
an IDF bombing, the rest will not be dam-
aged.
The Gaza tunnel project is organized,
calculated and does not leave any room
for piracy. It is coordinated between all the
factions' military wings and includes the
registration of all the tunnels in the strip,
including the tunnels' routes, the ways to
enter them and the destination according
to which they are mapped.
The tunnels are divided into four dis-
tricts: The northern strip, Gaza City, the

United As One

Lone Soldier's funeral draws 20,000 Israelis.

I

Jessica Steinberg
Times of Israel

S can Carmeli's Facebook page
is almost typical for a 21-year-
old. There's his profile photo
taken with a girl leaning on him, blurry
Instagrammed shots with friends at par-
ties and a sepia-toned picture of him
bicycle riding with friends on the Tel Aviv
boardwalk. There's also his cover photo
with his fellow squad members, some
faces blackened, guns at the ready.
Not everyone is grinning in that photo,
but Carmeli was.
"Me and the squad:' he wrote, labeling

40 July 24 • 2014

a batch of photos he put
up on Facebook.
First Sgt. Nissim
Sean Carmeli was killed
Saturday night when
his APC, the armored
personnel carrier that
.4
featured prominently in
Sean Carmeli
that Facebook album,
was struck by an anti-
tank weapon in Gaza — one of 13 Golani
soldiers killed in the Hamas stronghold of
Shejaiya that night.
"No sleepin a lot of drivin," wrote
Carmeli on one photo featuring him in
full gear in front of an APC.
Carmeli was buried in Haifa's Neve

central strip and the southern strip. There
is one person in charge of each district in
coordination with the other districts, and
only one person in charge of each tunnel.
In order to maintain the secrecy, his name
and the tunnel's route are kept confiden-
tial. The diggers and the person in charge
of the district are the only ones familiar
with the details.
Each military wing in the strip is per-
mitted to dig a tunnel only after coor-
dinating the activity with the person in
charge of the district. An average dig takes
about four months. Most of the tunnels are
dug by hand during the night, and each
tunnel is accurately calculated.
The factions have defined every part
of the strip as eligible for a tunnel for
military purposes. When a tunnel is dug
near the border fence, those responsible
for it notify the Gazan landowner, subject
to security coordination, and stress the
structural separation: Everything above

the ground belongs to him and everything
under the ground is under the responsibil-
ity of the military factions. If needed, he
will be financially compensated. Thus,
some of the landowners know that there
is a tunnel under their lands, but they are
unfamiliar with its route.
In the beginning of Operation Protective
Edge, the IDF attempted to destroy tunnels
by attacking them from the air, but after
13 terrorists tried to infiltrate Kibbutz Sufa
through a tunnel and carry out a major
attack, it was decided to launch a ground
operation first and foremost in order to
target the tunnel infrastructure.
A senior military source reported
Saturday that "in a maneuver of a day-
and-a-half, we managed to significantly
damage Hamas' tunnel system. In less
than 24 hours, Hamas lost 13 tunnels.
They are the apple of its eye. We are care-
fully talking about depriving it of its tun-
neling abilities."

David cemetery on Monday night.
Thousands of people attended the funeral,
with some estimates putting the number
at a staggering 20,000.
There had been concerns that the
Lone Soldier, who split his time between
Ra'anana and South Padre Island, Texas,
where his Israeli parents live, wouldn't
have enough people paying their final
respects at his funeral.
But since he was a huge fan of Maccabi
Haifa, the soccer team posted a photo of
Carmeli on its Facebook page after his
death, asking fans to go so that his funeral
wouldn't be deserted.
The team also announced that it would
have two buses waiting at the cemetery to
bring people back to the country's center,
after the 11 p.m. service.
Ahuvah Berger, a Kfar Saba resident
who attended the funeral, was struck by
the mix of people at the funeral.
"There were people from all walks of
life she said. "Religious, secular, Chabad,

a Ra'anana crew, a lot of people from
Haifa. Soldiers from the navy, air force
and infantries. It was really impressive to
see it. And there were a lot of people walk-
ing around wearing flags, Israeli flags."
Ra'anana mayor Ze'ev Bielski spoke, as
did the principal of Ostrovski, the high
school Carmeli attended.
While Carmeli spent part of his high
school years in Ra'anana, under the care
of his two older sisters, he was also tied
to the South Padre community, where his
parents became deeply involved with the
small, but strong Chabad-led community.
He was technically a Lone Soldier,
because his parents don't currently live in
Israel, but was close to his family, calling
his sisters and niece often.
Carmeli served in the Golani Brigade
with distinction. When he was called up
to Gaza last week, his officer told him he
didn't have to go to the front because of
a foot injury. Carmeli insisted on serving
with his squad.

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