Prof. Azar Gat of INSS warns of Consequences of IDF Withdrawal From

Professor Azar Gat of INSS and TAU warns of Consequences of IDF Withdrawal
From Gaza

After Israel withdraws from the area, vast segments of Hamas’s subterranean
networks are likely to remain intact. Moreover, new tunnels will almost
certainly be dug. These networks will pose a continued challenge to the
outposts the IDF is building in the security buffer zone along and inside
the Gaza border to protect Israeli communities around Gaza, and might even
enable raids on the communities themselves. Although not necessarily on the
scale of October 7, such incursions would still represent an ever-present
security threat. The fierce fighting in recent weeks around the underground
system in Beit Hanoun, right on the border, is a living reminder of this.

Most importantly, the remnants of Hamas’s vast underground network that will
be rebuilt, even if partially, as well as new branches that will be dug,
will continue to serve Hamas in concealing its fighters, headquarters,
warehouses, and reconstructed missile workshops throughout the Gaza Strip.
The problem for the IDF is how to detect and locate these forces and
facilities in the subterranean spaces. Meanwhile, the rocket threat will
also resume – for both harassment and deterrence.

This is the difference between the Gaza arena and those of Lebanon and the
West Bank, which are often cited as supposedly relevant analogies. A
post-war Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip that is not Hamas -
whether the Palestinian Authority or a “technocratic government” – is highly
desirable for Israel for many reasons. However, such a government’s ability
to militarily confront Hamas – even to the extent currently seen in the West
Bank – does not really exist, and the subterranean factor compounds the
challenge significantly. Israeli airstrikes and ground raids will face
similar obstacles to those now seen in the Gaza Strip – and even more so
once Hamas regains strength – requiring large-scale campaigns and battles.

All these factors must be considered in any discussion about ending the war
in the Gaza Strip and implementing an Israeli withdrawal.

Excerpt from: What Have We Not Yet Grasped About the Strategic Implications
of Gaza’s Underground Challenge
Professor Azar Gat INSS Insight No. 2021, August 3, 2025
https://www.inss.org.il/publication/gaza-tunnels/

Professor Azar Gat is the Academic Advisor to the Executive Director of
INSS. He is the incumbent of the Ezer Weitzman Chair of National Security
and Head of the International and Executive MA Programs in Security and
Diplomacy in the School of Political Science, Government and International
Affairs at Tel Aviv University.