The IDF has seized control of a secret underground web of tunnels which both served as a bunker for the top Hamas leadership and as a transportation route to above-ground sites in and around Palestine Square in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood and in Gaza City itself.

“This is a city that exists on two levels, one above ground and one underneath,” Commander of the 401st Brigade, Major-General Beni Aharon told reporters, and the battle for it also takes place in both arenas.

Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, Muhammad Deif used this network to manage the organization’s operation and movement through the heart of Gaza City, said the army, which has nicknamed the area “Commander’s Square.”

[The IDF will have to conquer both. Destroying the underground city may well destabilize the above-ground infrastructure, which is why flooding the system would normally be preferable. If this is a communications juncture for Hamas, though, the IDF will have to do more to permanently destroy it. — Ed]