A Channel 12 evening report on Friday relayed that a large portion of Hamas’s tunnel system was left intact after the Gaza fightingm with more than 60% still undestroyed, Israeli Defense Minister Yisroel Katz told U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
Many of those subterranean routes reportedly run on both sides of the yellow line, meaning some lie inside zones currently under IDF control as well as inside Gaza.
The same coverage said one of the remaining tunnels was the route used by the militants who killed two IDF soldiers during last week’s Rafah operation. Taken together, the figures imply that, across the past two years, Israeli efforts have eliminated under 40% of the tunnel network.
In his conversation with Vice President Vance, Katz emphasized the strategic priority: “The destruction of the tunnels is the most important joint mission in the demilitarization of Gaza, in accordance with the Trump plan, and preparations must be made to carry it out.”
He added a broader objective: “We must bring back all the hostages and fallen, eliminate all the tunnels, take the weapons from Hamas, and ensure it is not a governing force in Gaza.”
