On December 17, the Israeli army announced the discovery of a tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip (French)

Chairman of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner, said that what happened to the Israeli army with the tunnels of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza is a lesson that should be learned.

Warner was surprised that no one “did not imagine that Israel would eliminate only 35% of Hamas fighters and less than a third of the movement’s tunnel network,” in light of the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and the confrontations between the occupation in the areas of incursion and the Palestinian resistance, especially the Al-Qassam Brigades.

Warner: The Israeli army eliminated less than a third of Hamas's tunnel network (Getty)

Earlier, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that the Israeli army was surprised by the size of the tunnel network in Gaza, which exceeded military commanders' estimates by about 600%.

On December 17, the occupation army announced the discovery of a 4-kilometre-long tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip opposite the Gaza Strip settlements, and promoted the step as a major achievement despite coming about 60 days after its ground incursion into the Strip.

Comment and frustration

On the other hand, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted American officials as saying that they were very disappointed that Israel used aid as a bargaining chip, noting that this was “unacceptable.”

US Senator Bernie Sanders also called on President Joe Biden's administration to suspend aid to Israel or impose conditions on it, with growing talk of a growing disagreement between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's strategy in Gaza.

Axios quoted Sanders - who spoke to a program on the CBC channel - as saying, “We are watching the possibility that hundreds of thousands of children will die of hunger, and the United States cannot be complicit in this mass slaughter of children.”

Asked whether the United States would be likely to halt or place conditions on aid to one of its closest allies in the Middle East in an election year, Sanders said that would be "the right thing to do."

Sanders added, "You cannot beg Netanyahu. You have to tell him: If you want money, you have to change your policy. Allow the trucks to enter to feed the children," referring to Israel's restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza.

This comes in light of the ongoing Israeli aggression against Gaza since last October 7, leaving tens of thousands of martyrs, wounded and missing people - most of them children and women - and massive destruction to residential buildings and vital facilities, amid famine looming over the besieged Strip with the scarcity of aid entering.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies + Israeli press