Subterranean Warfare’s Strategic Coming of Age: The Israel-Hamas War of 2023-Present

This article posits the question as to whether subterranean warfare, which has been a tactic used in warfare since ancient times, has evolved to being an operational tactic in some contexts (such as in the Vietnam War and some Israeli-Hamas clashes in Gaza prior to 2023) and has now, for the first time, has “come of age” to the strategic level in the Israel-Hamas war that broke out in October 2023. The article argues that the current war in Gaza is one in which subterranean warfare has become strategic because the outcomes of this form of warfare in this context are strategic (both for Israel and for Hamas) and because virtually all of Hamas’s strategic assets and capabilities are based underground.