The Hebrew news website Walla reported that the Israeli army's engineering forces have so far discovered approximately 90 tunnels of varying lengths along the Philadelphi Corridor (from the closed Rafah crossing to the coast).

Some tunnels crossed the border with Israel, some reached the Palestinian-Egyptian border area, and some were unused and partially dug.

According to military sources, there may be additional tunnels that have not been discovered, despite the engineering activities carried out by the army in cooperation with the security forces, the Military Intelligence Directorate, and the General Intelligence Service (Shin Bet).

A security source said, "The working assumptions since October 7th are that we don't know everything, so it's likely that, with the halt to humanitarian aid to the Strip, various types of smuggling operations will occur, such as drones, boats, and others." The source confirmed the existence of tunnels crossing the border that have been sealed from an engineering standpoint and are under the control of the Israeli military. Most of the tunnels were sealed with special concrete, some were destroyed with explosives, and some remained under military control for intelligence and engineering investigations.

The security source expressed his belief that if the army had not been present in the Philadelphi area, the Palestinians would have used existing smuggling tunnels or built new ones. Information received by the security establishment and presented to Defense Minister Israel Katz indicates that Hamas is operating in several axes to receive Iranian aid with the aim of operating again against Israel. To this end, it is developing smuggling axes from Africa, particularly Sudan, and intends to rebuild forces in the Gaza Strip to carry out attacks. Under this pretext, Katz insists on not withdrawing from the Philadelphi route so that Hamas cannot rebuild its forces.