Israel-Palestine Mega Fact Check!

There would not be enough space to realistically fit the Gazan population in the existing tunnel infrastructure, nor would it ultimately protect them.

Would Gaza’s 2.1 million civilians fit inside the tunnels? Let’s do the math. There are allegedly 500 km of tunnels under Gaza. That works out to be about one man, woman, or child for every 10 inches of tunnel. So in that very limited sense it would be technically feasible.

However, most of the tunnels are narrow, like this one:

In light of the narrowness of these tunnels, civilians would have to be packed tightly like sardines and virtually unable to move. It would also make the tunnels unusable for their main purpose: allowing the covert movement of fighters and supplies.

Even if you could fit all civilians in there, would there be enough ventilation to provide them fresh air? And enough bedding, food, potable water, medicine, diapers, garbage-disposal, and bathroom / sewage treatment facilities? It would be a miraculous feat, since Hamas—alongside aid organizations like UNRWA—already struggle to reliably provide these necessities above ground.

Even if these hefty needs were met and the whole civilian population packed into the tunnels, the IDF would most likely state that Hamas militants were in the tunnels (whether true or not). They would then either invade them or pump in tear gas to force the civilians out. Either way, this strategy would ultimately fail to protect the civilian population.