WATCH: Israeli forces reveal large tunnel network under Gaza City where Hamas leaders were hiding

The Israeli military has revealed a vast tunnel network below the center of Gaza City where top Hamas leaders were hiding and living a comfortable life in what Israeli military officials describe as an “underground terror city.” 

The area informally known as the subterranean “Elite Quarter” in Gaza City, stretches below “Palestine Square,” the city’s main square, which is located in the affluent Rimal neighborhood where Gaza’s elite lived prior to the war.

The area was previously heavily militarized and Israeli soldiers eliminated around 600 terrorists in order to seize control. Hamas leaders reportedly used the tunnel network system as command and control centers, as well as living quarters.

The underground network enabled top Hamas leaders, including Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, to move freely around Gaza City and beyond. Israeli forces uncovered sophisticated electricity infrastructure, blast doors, various weaponry, and food and water, indicating that Hamas' top leaders were prepared to live below ground for extended periods. Hamas commanders were able to reach the tunnel network via shafts that were hidden in offices and residence buildings surrounding the large central Gaza City square.

IDF Col. Benny Aharon, the commander of the Israeli army’s 401st Armored Brigade, recently offered journalists a tour of the strategically important part of Gaza City where the Hamas elite was living and hiding.

“This was a bustling area, there are buildings here of wealthy people,” Aharon said.

“There are other squares in Gaza City, but this is the main one,” he emphasized, adding that Hamas top leaders like Sinwar, Deif and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh kept offices and homes in the surrounding area.

The senior IDF officer said the vast tunnel network illustrates how the terror organization embedded itself and its operatives within civilian areas that offered a convenient exterior cover to terror activities.

“Regular homes of civilians, that people seemingly live in the day-to-day, but in reality, they are either a hideout apartment for terrorists, or directly underneath the building, they have meeting rooms, where all of Hamas’s officials met,” Aharon assessed.

Known informally as the “Gaza Metro,” the large tunnel network reportedly stretches for some 500 km (more than 300 miles) across much of the Strip. Despite its vast size, the senior Israeli officer stressed that it was mainly designed to protect Hamas leaders and not eve lower-ranking terrorist operatives.

“They built the underground [infrastructure] over decades, which is aimed at protecting themselves, the seniors, not the civilians, not even the soldiers in this case – their terrorists – but their officials,” Aharon stated.

Although large Israeli forces have operated inside the Gaza Strip since the end of October, neither Sinwar, Deif or any other top Hamas commander have so far been caught or killed. The vast underground network has enabled the Hamas leadership to move between different locations and avoid encounters with Israeli forces.

Sinwar, Deif and other top Hamas leaders are believed to be hiding somewhere in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. One likely location is the tunnel network below the city of Khan Younis, which is reportedly the informal headquarters of Hamas. Israeli forces recently nearly captured Sinwar twice as IDF soldiers entered various tunnels in the Khan Younis area, according to news reports.

Israel has vowed to capture Sinwar dead or alive.