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| Israel’s Getting a New Wall, This One With a Twist | Israel’s Getting a New Wall, This One With a Twist |
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| KFAR SIRKIN, Israel — Israel is building another wall to protect itself from its enemies. But rather than a major eyesore, much of this one will be invisible. | KFAR SIRKIN, Israel — Israel is building another wall to protect itself from its enemies. But rather than a major eyesore, much of this one will be invisible. |
| In the coming months, military officials say, the army will be accelerating construction of a subterranean barrier around the Gaza Strip, designed to cut off tunnels running beneath the border into Israel like the ones Hamas militants used to ambush Israeli military posts during the summer-long war of 2014. | In the coming months, military officials say, the army will be accelerating construction of a subterranean barrier around the Gaza Strip, designed to cut off tunnels running beneath the border into Israel like the ones Hamas militants used to ambush Israeli military posts during the summer-long war of 2014. |
| Challenged by hostile forces on most of its fronts, Israel is already pretty much walled in. Aboveground fences and sections of concrete wall run along and through parts of the West Bank, a legacy of Palestinian suicide bombings during the second intifada. Formidable steel fences also stretch along the northern frontiers with Lebanon and Syria, the southern borders with Jordan and the Egyptian Sinai, and around Gaza, the isolated Palestinian coastal enclave controlled by Hamas, the Islamic militant group, for the last decade. | Challenged by hostile forces on most of its fronts, Israel is already pretty much walled in. Aboveground fences and sections of concrete wall run along and through parts of the West Bank, a legacy of Palestinian suicide bombings during the second intifada. Formidable steel fences also stretch along the northern frontiers with Lebanon and Syria, the southern borders with Jordan and the Egyptian Sinai, and around Gaza, the isolated Palestinian coastal enclave controlled by Hamas, the Islamic militant group, for the last decade. |
| The approach seems to have caught on internationally. President Trump invoked Israel’s “wall” — without specifying which one — as a model for the barrier he has vowed to build along the United States’ border with Mexico. And the migrant crisis has spurred European interest in Israeli fence-building techniques. | The approach seems to have caught on internationally. President Trump invoked Israel’s “wall” — without specifying which one — as a model for the barrier he has vowed to build along the United States’ border with Mexico. And the migrant crisis has spurred European interest in Israeli fence-building techniques. |
| Israeli military officials are being understandably cagey about how the new underground barrier will work, other than to say it will also include an aboveground section and incorporate layers of advanced technological systems. The cost is expected to be about 4 billion shekels (more than $1 billion), according to Israeli news reports, which suggest it will plunge to a depth of about 130 feet. | Israeli military officials are being understandably cagey about how the new underground barrier will work, other than to say it will also include an aboveground section and incorporate layers of advanced technological systems. The cost is expected to be about 4 billion shekels (more than $1 billion), according to Israeli news reports, which suggest it will plunge to a depth of about 130 feet. |
| Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the commander of the military’s Southern Command, told reporters this week that it would be completed within about two years. | Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the commander of the military’s Southern Command, told reporters this week that it would be completed within about two years. |
| In the meantime, the Israeli military is working to ensure that the project does not prompt the next war. | |
| Military commanders are insisting that the wall is meant only to defend Israelis, and emphasizing that it will be built in Israeli territory, in the hope of removing any justification for Hamas to attack the construction teams and set off another round of fighting. | Military commanders are insisting that the wall is meant only to defend Israelis, and emphasizing that it will be built in Israeli territory, in the hope of removing any justification for Hamas to attack the construction teams and set off another round of fighting. |
| On Thursday, nearly three years after the end of the last devastating war, military officials distributed aerial photographs and GPS coordinates of two residential buildings in Gaza that they said concealed entrances to Hamas tunnel networks. | On Thursday, nearly three years after the end of the last devastating war, military officials distributed aerial photographs and GPS coordinates of two residential buildings in Gaza that they said concealed entrances to Hamas tunnel networks. |
| General Zamir said those buildings would become legitimate military targets in wartime, endangering the occupants. One of the buildings is six stories high and went up in the last two years, according to the military, while the other is home to a Hamas member with five children, and connects to a nearby mosque. They were, he said, just two examples of “a whole bank of targets.” | General Zamir said those buildings would become legitimate military targets in wartime, endangering the occupants. One of the buildings is six stories high and went up in the last two years, according to the military, while the other is home to a Hamas member with five children, and connects to a nearby mosque. They were, he said, just two examples of “a whole bank of targets.” |
| “We see that Hamas is deterred and restrained, and is reining in others,” General Zamir told reporters in a telephone briefing. But, he added, “Our intelligence shows without any doubt that Hamas is building its infrastructure for the next round of fighting in the civilian arena.” | “We see that Hamas is deterred and restrained, and is reining in others,” General Zamir told reporters in a telephone briefing. But, he added, “Our intelligence shows without any doubt that Hamas is building its infrastructure for the next round of fighting in the civilian arena.” |
| Relative calm has prevailed along the border since the 2014 war, which was the third between Israel and Hamas in six years. But General Zamir said the situation was “potentially explosive,” and could deteriorate at any given moment into another conflict. | Relative calm has prevailed along the border since the 2014 war, which was the third between Israel and Hamas in six years. But General Zamir said the situation was “potentially explosive,” and could deteriorate at any given moment into another conflict. |
| Israel’s technologically advanced army invested heavily to combat Hamas’s lower-tech weapons. Israel developed the Iron Dome air defense system to knock out the crude rockets Hamas and other militant groups fired at its cities. Faced with the precision of Iron Dome, Hamas went underground and focused on building tunnels. | Israel’s technologically advanced army invested heavily to combat Hamas’s lower-tech weapons. Israel developed the Iron Dome air defense system to knock out the crude rockets Hamas and other militant groups fired at its cities. Faced with the precision of Iron Dome, Hamas went underground and focused on building tunnels. |
| Hamas officials insisted they would not be fazed by Israel’s subterranean wall. | Hamas officials insisted they would not be fazed by Israel’s subterranean wall. |
| “The threats of the occupation do not frighten the resistance,” Hazim Kassim, a Hamas spokesman, said in an interview on Thursday, referring to Israel. | “The threats of the occupation do not frighten the resistance,” Hazim Kassim, a Hamas spokesman, said in an interview on Thursday, referring to Israel. |
| “All these actions of the occupation will not provide them with security,” he added. “Judging by previous experience, the resistance will find ways to overcome these obstacles.” | “All these actions of the occupation will not provide them with security,” he added. “Judging by previous experience, the resistance will find ways to overcome these obstacles.” |
| The army’s publicity campaign follows a three-month pilot project on an initial part of the new barrier. About 1,000 civilian contract workers will be involved in the construction. | The army’s publicity campaign follows a three-month pilot project on an initial part of the new barrier. About 1,000 civilian contract workers will be involved in the construction. |
| In 2014, after 50 days of fighting, Israel said it had put dozens of Hamas tunnels out of commission, including several extending into Israeli territory, threatening nearby civilian communities. Some had been used during the war to attack soldiers. | In 2014, after 50 days of fighting, Israel said it had put dozens of Hamas tunnels out of commission, including several extending into Israeli territory, threatening nearby civilian communities. Some had been used during the war to attack soldiers. |
| Israel says Hamas has since worked feverishly to rehabilitate and expand its tunnel network and stock of rockets, even as Gaza’s residents suffer a continual humanitarian crisis, including a dire lack of electricity in what has been a scorching summer. | Israel says Hamas has since worked feverishly to rehabilitate and expand its tunnel network and stock of rockets, even as Gaza’s residents suffer a continual humanitarian crisis, including a dire lack of electricity in what has been a scorching summer. |
| To contend with the challenges of underground warfare, Israeli soldiers now use virtual-reality systems to simulate fighting in tunnels and train in mazelike, concrete tunnel networks constructed to mimic those in Gaza. | To contend with the challenges of underground warfare, Israeli soldiers now use virtual-reality systems to simulate fighting in tunnels and train in mazelike, concrete tunnel networks constructed to mimic those in Gaza. |
| On a recent weekday at the Sirkin Army base in central Israel, about a dozen soldiers from a special combat engineering unit donned virtual-reality headsets in a classroom as trainers walked them through a simulation. They virtually filed through a narrow tunnel, one behind the other. With the flip of a switch they could fill the tunnel with misty fumes or bathe it in the green light of night vision. At one turn, they came across a virtual Hamas militant digging in fatigues and a red-checked kaffiyeh. | On a recent weekday at the Sirkin Army base in central Israel, about a dozen soldiers from a special combat engineering unit donned virtual-reality headsets in a classroom as trainers walked them through a simulation. They virtually filed through a narrow tunnel, one behind the other. With the flip of a switch they could fill the tunnel with misty fumes or bathe it in the green light of night vision. At one turn, they came across a virtual Hamas militant digging in fatigues and a red-checked kaffiyeh. |
| The military’s showcasing of such training to reporters is all part of the psychological warfare Israel and Hamas have been engaged in for years. | The military’s showcasing of such training to reporters is all part of the psychological warfare Israel and Hamas have been engaged in for years. |
| In an interview at the Sirkin base, Brig. Gen. Oshri Lugassy, the departing chief engineering officer, said that there were now “hundreds of kilometers” of tunnels running under the Gaza Strip. Since 2014, when the extent of the underground challenge was exposed, the engineering corps has acquired dozens more heavy mechanical tools, drills and bulldozers, he said. | In an interview at the Sirkin base, Brig. Gen. Oshri Lugassy, the departing chief engineering officer, said that there were now “hundreds of kilometers” of tunnels running under the Gaza Strip. Since 2014, when the extent of the underground challenge was exposed, the engineering corps has acquired dozens more heavy mechanical tools, drills and bulldozers, he said. |
| Israeli residents of communities bordering the Gaza Strip have long complained of hearing the Hamas tunnel diggers working at night. By now, General Lugassy said, his military engineers have earned “a doctorate in noises.” He said most of the “digging” people heard turned out to be a storeroom door slamming in the wind or even a small creature that munches on grass roots. | |
| Still, “if you hear it at night,” he acknowledged, “you are convinced they are digging under your house.” | Still, “if you hear it at night,” he acknowledged, “you are convinced they are digging under your house.” |