On November 20, 2025, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed the discovery of a sprawling underground tunnel in southern Gaza, a find that has both strategic and deeply emotional significance for Israelis. This tunnel, stretching more than seven kilometers beneath the city of Rafah and plunging roughly 25 meters deep, was where the remains of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin were held for over 11 years by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The IDF's revelation brings to light not only the vast scale of Hamas’s subterranean infrastructure but also the years-long, painstaking efforts to recover the body of a soldier whose fate became a national cause.
The IDF, in a video shared on X (formerly Twitter), described the tunnel as “one of the most significant and complex” it has uncovered to date in the southern Gaza Strip. According to The Times of Israel, the tunnel runs beneath densely populated residential neighborhoods near the Philadelphi Corridor, a strip that hugs the Gaza-Egypt border. The route winds through sensitive civilian areas, including a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) compound, mosques, clinics, kindergartens, and schools. The military has long accused Hamas of using such civilian sites as shields for their operations, a charge that continues to fuel international debate about the conduct and human cost of the war in Gaza.
The tunnel’s sheer size and complexity are staggering. As reported by Reuters and confirmed by IDF images, the underground structure contains around 80 separate rooms. Some of these were command-and-control centers, where senior Hamas operatives—among them Mohammad Shabaneh, commander of the Rafah Brigade—lived, stored weapons, and plotted attacks. The IDF said that Shabaneh was killed in May 2025, alongside top Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, during targeted Israeli operations. The tunnel, equipped with specialized sections for launching attacks, logistics, and storage, also served as a hiding place for hostages, including Goldin and others captured during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
The discovery of this tunnel was the result of a coordinated operation led by the IDF’s elite Yahalom combat engineering unit and the Shayetet 13 naval commando unit, with support from the Southern Command. According to the IDF, the operation not only exposed the tunnel’s labyrinthine structure but also led to the destruction of the shaft used by Hamas militants to kidnap Goldin more than a decade ago. Goldin, a 23-year-old officer, was killed and abducted during the 2014 Gaza War while attempting to dismantle a terror tunnel during a ceasefire. His body was taken into Gaza, and for over 4,118 days, his fate remained a painful mystery for his family and the Israeli public.
Hamas announced earlier this month that it had recovered Goldin’s body from the tunnel in Rafah, now under Israeli control. On November 9, 2025, Goldin’s remains were returned to Israel as part of a ceasefire agreement. His burial on November 15, 2025, drew crowds and marked the end of a protracted ordeal that had become symbolic of the broader conflict. According to The Times of Israel, Goldin was the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza since before the October 2023 Hamas attack that reignited the war.
The operation to locate Goldin’s remains was anything but straightforward. Over the past six months, Israel carried out dozens of covert missions in Gaza, including the abduction of Dr. Marwan al-Hams, a senior Hamas health ministry official. Al-Hams, who oversees Gaza’s field hospitals, was detained by undercover Israeli forces on July 21, 2025, in Khan Younis while visiting a Red Cross hospital. The IDF and Shin Bet security agency said al-Hams was suspected of knowing the location of Goldin’s burial and had been involved in declaring his death. Al-Hams remains in Israeli custody, while his daughter Tasneem, who was also detained in October, was released earlier this month. According to CNN and Israeli media, Israel refused to release al-Hams and another hospital director as part of the current ceasefire deal, underscoring the high stakes and complex negotiations behind each hostage’s fate.
The return of Goldin’s remains was part of a broader agreement reached under the Gaza ceasefire that began on October 9, 2025. Hamas returned the final 20 living hostages and the remains of 25 deceased hostages, including Goldin, out of 28 deceased hostages held in Gaza when the truce was struck. The remaining deceased hostages include Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, Dror Or, and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak, whose bodies were taken to Gaza after they were killed during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.
The tunnel where Goldin was held is just one part of what the Israeli military calls the "Gaza metro"—an extensive network of underground passages spanning more than 500 kilometers. These tunnels have been used by Hamas to move construction materials, food, medicine, clothing, fuel, computers, livestock, and even cars. According to National Geographic, Hamas taxes everything that comes through these tunnels, generating an estimated $750 million in revenue each year. The tunnels are equipped with electrical cables and ventilation pipes, and some are large enough to accommodate small vehicles. In December 2023, the IDF discovered what it described as the "biggest Hamas tunnel" yet—over four kilometers long, 50 meters deep, and located near the Erez border crossing. This structure, concealed beneath a sand dune, was wide enough for vehicles and included power and ventilation systems, making it a critical asset for Hamas’s military operations.
The strategic importance of these tunnels cannot be overstated. They have allowed Hamas to smuggle weapons, launch attacks, and evade Israeli surveillance. The tunnels have also been used to hide both militants and hostages, complicating Israeli efforts to rescue captives and dismantle Hamas’s military infrastructure. The IDF has reported finding tunnels beneath hospitals, UN compounds, and other civilian sites, further fueling controversy over the conduct of both sides in the conflict. For example, in June 2025, the IDF found the body of Muhammad Sinwar, a top Hamas commander, inside a tunnel beneath the emergency department of the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis. Sinwar was killed in an Israeli airstrike on May 13, 2025, an attack that, according to the Hamas-run civil defense agency, killed 28 people and injured dozens more.
As the war in Gaza continues, the discovery of the tunnel that held Goldin’s remains serves as a stark reminder of the conflict’s complexity and human toll. The tunnels beneath Gaza are both a military asset and a humanitarian flashpoint, weaving beneath the lives of civilians and combatants alike. For many Israelis, Goldin’s return is a bittersweet victory—closure for one family, but a testament to the enduring and tangled struggle that defines the region.