As videos and photos circulated online showing the scale of devastation in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces published a video showing what lies beneath the rubble: a vast network of heavily fortified tunnels. Beneath the surface, Hamas built a military fortress that housed its military equipment and weapons arsenals and provided places for its terrorists to hide and conduct ambush-style raids on Israeli troops.

In the video, satellite photos of Rafah were shown, overlaid by bright red lines crisscrossing over each other to form a complex maze. These images were followed by actual footage taken by IDF soldiers inside the tunnels.

“This is the terror hidden beneath Gaza’s neighborhoods, stadiums, mosques, schools, owner compounds, hospitals, and civilian homes,” the narrator said. “Hamas will stop at nothing to spread terror, exploiting civilian infrastructure to carry out its attacks. This is why the IDF continues to operate: to protect Israeli civilians from Hamas’s terror.”

Civilian infrastructure that is used to house or protect military targets loses its protection under international humanitarian law. Hamas’ ploy to dig a massive and complex tunnel network beneath the entire Strip endangered all of Gaza by rendering nearly all of the civilian infrastructure a legitimate military target. The IDF has accused Hamas throughout the war of using civilians as human shields, for which the tunnel network provides ample evidence.