The Israel Defense Forces disclosed new operational details on Tuesday regarding the ongoing campaign to dismantle Hamas’s underground network in the northern Gaza Strip, clarifying that the discovery of a major 1.5-kilometer subterranean route was a primary catalyst for expanding the Yellow Line operational boundary.
According to military officials, the subterranean route—codenamed “Schwarz”—was detected in territory newly under IDF control after the Yellow Line expanded. The army noted that neutralizing this specific threat was a core operational priority aimed at safeguarding front-line ground troops and securing civilian communities in the Gaza border envelope. Combat engineering units destroyed the tunnel across multiple segments, causing severe structural collapse in the network and surrounding shafts.
Forces from the Northern Brigade, under the command of the 99th Division, conducted the operation in close coordination with Southern Command engineering teams. Soldiers continue active sweep-and-clear operations east of the Yellow Line to locate and demolish additional terror infrastructure, hidden weapons depots, and surface threats. The military emphasized that it has systematically demolished numerous underground passages within the Yellow Line sector since the ceasefire took effect. While defense intelligence had prior indicators of parts of the subterranean layout, physical access to uncover and fully destroy them became possible only after expanding territorial control.
The IDF further highlighted that the subterranean arena remains a formidable intelligence and operational challenge, given Hamas’s extensive operational compartmentalization over years of construction. To counter this, the military is deploying comprehensive technological and intelligence resources, including systematic exploratory drilling along the line, to maximize precision in locating terror shafts and neutralizing prospective infiltration threats.