‘Tunnel digging will resume when Israel leaves’

Col (res.) Atai Shelach, a former commander of the elite combat engineering unit Yahalom, says in a conference call with journalists that Israel “won’t find all of the tunnels,” and that “the moment we go out they will start digging again.”

He describes a history of tunneling in Gaza as “almost two decades old” and says that it began with the acquisition of goods, then turned into a commercial industry for several families in Gaza and, since the Israeli withdrawal in 2005, the intensity of digging has increased from year to year.

Shelach says that the intelligence picture provided to the troops “was very good” and that he was not at all surprised by the extent of the tunnel network in Gaza.

In a call arranged by The Israel Project, he explains how “the hundreds, if not thousands” of tunnels in Gaza are created. Beyond the craft of the digging and the usage of perhaps 800 tons of concrete in some of the tunnels, he says that the first step is to find a family willing to help Hamas, or to accept payment in exchange for looking the other way, and to begin digging – slowly, so as not to create suspicion – from within the home.

— Mitch Ginsburg