The IDF announced it has completed the sealing of a vast Hamas tunnel complex in southern Rafah stretching more than 16 km (10 miles), where Lt. Hadar Goldin was held after being killed in action and abducted on August 1, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge. Engineering troops from the Gaza Division and Southern Command, alongside the Yahalom special forces unit, used over 30,000 cubic meters of concrete. The tunnel contained roughly 80 living quarters and served as a Hamas Rafah Brigade command center.
The IDF announced on Monday evening that it has completed the engineering operation to seal the underground tunnel in southern Rafah where Lieutenant Hadar Goldin was held after his abduction in 2014.
Goldin was killed in battle on August 1, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, and his body was taken into the tunnel by Hamas operatives. His remains were returned to Israel in November 2025 as part of a hostage-release framework.
The tunnel, located near the Philadelphi Corridor, extended more than 16 kilometers and included approximately 80 living quarters, according to the military. It served as a Hamas command-and-control center for the Rafah Brigade and its commander. Israeli forces located the tunnel in an operation by the Southern Command involving the Yahalom combat engineering unit and Shayetet 13 naval commandos. Over the past three months, engineering troops worked to seal it, pouring over 30,000 cubic meters of concrete.
The IDF stated the tunnel ran beneath a residential neighborhood, mosques, kindergartens, clinics, a school, and a UNRWA clinic. The announcement follows an earlier thread of Israeli operations against underground infrastructure in Gaza and southern Lebanon. As The Zioneer reported Monday, the IDF recently captured a Hezbollah UAV storage tunnel in Lebanon and demolished a major tunnel in Majdal Zoun. The sealing of this Gaza tunnel marks the conclusion of a long-term effort to neutralize the site where Goldin was held.
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