Hamas on Wednesday called on mediating countries to pressure Israel to allow dozens of Palestinian fighters to exit underground tunnels where they are reportedly trapped in the Gaza Strip.
The appeal followed an Israeli army announcement that last week it killed more than 20 Hamas members “who were attempting to escape from underground terrorist infrastructure in the area” and detained eight others (Israeli army statement). In its own statement, Hamas said it holds Israel “fully responsible for the lives of our fighters” and urged mediators to “act immediately,” to “apply pressure and ensure that our sons can return to their homes.”
This is the first time Hamas has publicly acknowledged that some of its fighters are trapped in underground tunnels. Israeli media have for weeks reported that between 100 and 200 members of Hamas’s military wing are trapped in the tunnel network beneath the city of Rafah, in a sector of the Gaza Strip reportedly under Israeli military control (Israeli media reports).
Under a U.S.-pressured ceasefire agreement that took effect on October 10, the Israeli army was to withdraw from the coastal section of the enclave beyond the so-called “yellow line” boundary. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said earlier this month, at a business event in Miami, that “200 fighters are trapped in Rafah,” on the Gaza-Egypt border, and suggested that their surrender or fate could be a test of the fragile truce (statement by U.S. special envoy).
Israeli authorities, however, have shown little willingness to agree to a compromise that would allow fighters to exit the tunnels safely. A government spokesperson told Agence France-Presse earlier this month that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “does not permit the safe passage of the 200 Hamas terrorists” and remains committed to “destroying Hamas’s military capabilities and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip” (Israeli government spokesperson to AFP).
In yesterday’s statement, Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire terms by carrying out “searches, exterminations and arrests of resistance fighters besieged in the underground tunnels in Rafah” (Hamas statement).
