IDF strikes Hamas underground, families of hostages worried about strikes – RT in French

The Israeli army announced on October 28 that it had targeted the Hamas tunnel network by striking “150 underground targets” in the north of the Gaza Strip, during a night of very intense bombing. Worried, the families of the Israeli hostages demanded a meeting with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

“Overnight, IDF warplanes struck 150 underground targets in the northern Gaza Strip, including tunnels used by terrorists, underground combat sites and other underground infrastructure. Several Hamas terrorists were killed,” the Israeli army said on October 28.

Israel is convinced that the Palestinian Islamist movement directs and organizes its operations from this gigantic network of underground tunnels, and stores its arsenal there.

The Israeli army claims to have killed a Hamas official who was in charge of “paramotors, drones, detection equipment and air defense”.

“We are bombing the Gaza Strip with unprecedented intensity”

“Asem Abu Rakaba took part in organizing the massacre in the communities bordering the Gaza Strip on October 7,” “he led the terrorists who infiltrated Israel with paramotors and was responsible for the attacks drones on IDF surveillance posts,” the statement said.

“We are bombing the Gaza Strip with unprecedented intensity. By air, on the ground and underground – the IDF will eliminate any terrorists, whether major or minor, and (destroy) Hamas’ entire terrorist infrastructure,” said a senior Israeli officer involved in operations in southern Hamas. Israel, quoted on the army’s official X account (formerly Twitter).

Tunnels 30 or 40 meters deep

Since the 2014 war, Hamas has dug underground routes within the territory itself, according to military experts. Fighters would be installed there up to 30 or 40 meters underground, and move around there out of range of strikes. Rocket launcher batteries hidden a few meters deep can exit through a trapdoor system to fire and disappear again, according to military experts.

The Israeli army intensely bombed them in 2021. But if part of this network is undoubtedly known to it, others have remained secret.

Hostage families demand meeting with Gallant

The families of the hostages, mostly Israeli, held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, expressed their “concern” on Saturday and demanded explanations from the government after the army’s intense bombardments against this Palestinian territory.

“Families are worried about the fate of their loved ones and are waiting for explanations. Every minute seems like an eternity. We demand that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and members of the war cabinet meet with us this morning,” according to a statement from the association bringing together the families of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.

According to the army, 229 hostages, Israeli, binational or foreign, are currently detained in the Gaza Strip. They were taken on the day of the Gaza attacks by Hamas, which has since released four women. One of them described being taken into “a sprawling network” of tunnels at the start of her detention.

The bombings continued on Saturday October 28 in the Gaza Strip, three weeks after the massacre perpetrated by the Palestinian Islamist movement which left more than 1,400 dead, mostly civilians, according to the Israeli authorities.

According to the latest report published by the Hamas Ministry of Health, 7,326 people, mostly civilians including more than 3,000 children, have been killed in Gaza in Israeli retaliatory bombings since October 7.

The Gaza Strip has been cut off from the world since Friday due to the shutdown of telecommunications and the internet. Some 2.4 million Palestinians live in Gaza, under Israeli blockade since 2007.