The Israel Defense Forces announced that troops have completed the permanent sealing of the massive underground tunnel in southern Gaza where Lt. Hadar Goldin was held after he was killed and abducted by Hamas during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

Goldin, who fell in battle in the Gaza Strip and was kidnapped on August 1, 2014, was finally returned to Israel for burial in November 2025 as part of an agreement that secured the return of Israeli hostages. The IDF said the recovery was made possible through its prolonged military operations throughout Gaza.

Following the recovery of Goldin’s remains, the IDF Southern Command launched a large-scale engineering operation involving the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit and Shayetet 13 naval commandos. During the mission, Israeli forces located the underground passage in southern Rafah where Goldin had been held in recent years.

Over the past three months, engineering units from the Gaza Division, together with Southern Command forces and the Yahalom special operations unit, carried out an extensive project to permanently seal the tunnel network. Stretching for more than 16 kilometers (approximately 10 miles), the tunnel was filled using more than 30,000 cubic meters of concrete, bringing the operation to its successful conclusion.

According to the IDF, the underground complex served as a major Hamas command-and-control center and contained approximately 80 living quarters. It was used by the commander of Hamas’ Rafah Brigade to direct and coordinate terrorist operations.

The military also said the tunnel was constructed beneath densely populated civilian areas near the Philadelphi Corridor, passing underneath a residential neighborhood as well as mosques, kindergartens, medical clinics, a school, and a UNRWA clinic, highlighting what Israel says is Hamas’ longstanding practice of embedding its military infrastructure beneath civilian facilities.

{Matzav.com}