Israel could lose hundreds of troops in bloodbath battle through booby-trapped maze of tunnels when they storm Gaza
ISRAELI troops face a bloodbath battle through a maze of booby-trapped tunnels when they storm Gaza, intelligence documents reveal.
Soldiers will be ordered into 300 miles of hellish rat-runs dubbed “The Gaza Metro”.
Military experts warned that the daunting underground mission against heavily-armed Hamas terrorists will cost hundreds of Israeli lives.
But it must be completed to stop Hamas springing deadly surprise attacks during the planned occupation of their Gaza City stronghold.
Troops will also be hunting Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, believed to be cowering in the nightmarish labyrinth.
Lt Col Peter Lerner said Sinwar “chose to send the butchers into our bedrooms to kill our babies”.
He added: “When they chose to go full front against Israel, they signed their own death warrant. A dead man walking. We will get to that to man.”
Israeli military planners who analysed Hamas’ weekend massacre of 1,400 victims believe the group is capable of setting terrifying hi-tech traps.
Fighters carried encrypted phones, operational handbooks and their own intelligence documents and flew drones to scope out targets.
They by-passed electronic surveillance at the border and set up ammunition supply lines.
Military analysts are now convinced the October 7 atrocities were just the first phase of the Hamas masterplan — and that luring Israeli troops into a trap could be phase two.
Hamas has built 40 tunnels under the Gaza border as well as a fearsome defensive network under Gaza City.
These allow them to lie in wait in underground command posts and living quarters, encased in reinforced concrete up to 40ft below the blitzed streets.
Plans detailed in an intelligence dossier seen by The Sun reveals the Israeli assault on the warren will start with the dropping of bunker-buster Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs.
But the blitz will not be enough to take out every Hamas hiding place — and will need to be followed by waves of the Israeli Defence Forces’ specially-trained Subterranean Combat Teams.
They will send in small drones and robots to map out enemy positions and beam live pictures back to intelligence teams.
The dossier, collated by the Intelligence Directorate’s Document Collection and Technological Gathering Division, predicts tunnels will be scattered with false turns and explosive traps. Whole sections are believed to have been mined and designed to collapse on intruders.
Hamas killers have also been trained in “shoot and scoot” raids — opening fire before fleeing in the hope of drawing enemy forces to their doom.
Hamas has been accused of funneling cash donated for humanitarian aid to its tunnel system, deliberately positioned under residential areas to turn families into human shields against air attacks.
And, in a nightmare complication, the tunnels could be housing 199 Israeli hostages.
Information found on a dead terrorist in Kibbutz Alumim, close to Be’eri and the festival massacre sites, also suggest Hamas’ allies Iran bankrolled the operation and helped train those responsible.
Defence analyst Paul Beaver told The Sun: “In my 40 years of experience, the Gaza operation unfolding now is the biggest challenge Israel has faced.
“It will not take days. This could take weeks and even months and cost countless lives.
“If Israel plans to occupy Gaza, which I believe would be a huge mistake, it must clear those tunnels of every last Hamas fighter.
“Hamas is not troubled by civilian casualties, is well dug in and holds a huge advantage over its enemy as they prepare to attack.”
Israel has paved the way for a ground assault by striking military targets including command centres and rocket launchers.
Fighter jets, artillery and drones continued to hammer Gaza.
Muataz Eid, a senior Hamas commander and the head of national security for the terror group’s southern district, was said to be among five senior officials killed.
The enclave’s health ministry said 2,670 Palestinians were dead and 9,600 wounded.
Food and medical supplies were on the brink of collapse, corpses littered the streets and officials warned of unprecedented suffering. Israel bowed to pressure to allow fuel tankers into Gaza to power hospital generators, hours after restoring water supplies.
But hopes of a lull in the fighting and the creation of a humanitarian corridor to allow foreign refugees to flee south into Egypt were dashed.
Meanwhile, at Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, more rockets were fired by Hamas’ terrorist allies Hezbollah, prompting the Israeli evacuation of civilians from 28 communities.