Israel discovers 7 km-long, 25 m-deep complex Hamas tunnel with 80 rooms

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have discovered a major Hamas tunnel in the Gaza Strip, where the body of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin had been held. Lieutenant Goldin was killed in an ambush during the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, and his remains were returned to Israel earlier this month.

On Thursday, the IDF posted a video on X showing the tunnel that had housed Goldin's body. The military said the tunnel runs beneath a densely populated area of Rafah and passes through a UNRWA (United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees) compound, mosques, clinics, and kindergartens.

According to the IDF, Hamas commanders used the tunnel to store weapons, plan attacks, and remain underground for extended periods. The tunnel is over seven kilometres long, 25 metres deep, and contains 80 rooms. It was uncovered by the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit in coordination with the Shayetet 13 naval commando unit.

The IDF described it as “one of Gaza's largest and most complex underground routes, over 7 km long, ~25 meters deep, with ~80 hideouts, where abducted IDF officer Lt. Hadar Goldin was held.” Rooms used as command posts by senior Hamas leaders, including Muhammad Shabana—killed alongside Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar in May—were also discovered.

⭕️ EXPOSED: A 7+ kilometer Hamas tunnel route that held Lt. Hadar Goldin.

IDF troops uncovered one of Gaza’s largest and most complex underground routes, over 7 km long, ~25 meters deep, with ~80 hideouts, where abducted IDF officer Lt. Hadar Goldin was held.

The tunnel runs… pic.twitter.com/GTId75CvYw

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 20, 2025

In another X post, the IDF announced the arrest of Marwan Al-Hams, calling him “a Hamas terrorist involved in the determination of Lt. Hadar Goldin's death.” The military added, “Al-Hams was also suspected of knowing the location of Lt. Goldin's burial in the ‘White-Crowned’ tunnel in Rafah.”

“The operation in July 2025 was part of dozens of confidential operations conducted in the past 6 months to retrieve Lt. Hadar Goldin & return him for burial in Israel,” the IDF said.

Meanwhile, in ongoing developments from the Gaza war that began in October 2023, Israeli airstrikes on Thursday killed five people and injured 18 in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Medics told Reuters that one strike on a house in Bani Suhaila east of Khan Younis killed three people, including a baby girl, and wounded 15, while another strike killed a man and injured three others in nearby Abassan town.

The strikes followed mutual accusations by Hamas and Israel of violating a nearly six-week-old truce that has become increasingly fragile.

The conflict began after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people—mostly civilians—and taking 251 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 69,000 Palestinians, also primarily civilians, according to health officials in Gaza.