Former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has admitted that a widely publicised image of an alleged Hamas tunnel on the Gaza-Egypt border was fabricated to delay a prisoner exchange agreement and inflate perceived threats to Israel.
In August 2024, the Israeli military claimed it had discovered a massive tunnel in the Philadelphia Corridor—the narrow buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt. A photograph released at the time purported to show a vast underground passage, reportedly tall enough for vehicles to pass through.
However, in a recent investigation by Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, Gallant confirmed that the photo had been staged. The actual discovery, he revealed, was merely a shallow trench, approximately one metre deep.
He further clarified that what appeared in the image as a tunnel entrance was, in fact, a routine drainage channel. The military vehicle shown in the photo had been deliberately positioned to give the false impression of a significant underground structure.
Gallant stated that the fabricated image was used to bolster claims that Palestinian resistance factions were constructing major tunnels along the Philadelphi Road, an area Israel has long considered strategically important.
According to Gallant, the misleading photo was also intended to stall negotiations for a potential ceasefire and prisoner swap with Hamas by justifying Israel’s continued military presence in the corridor.
“It was not a tunnel, but rather an attempt to prevent a ceasefire agreement,” he reportedly said.
At the time of the photo’s release, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced heavy domestic and international pressure over his refusal to agree to a ceasefire deal. His insistence that Israeli forces remain in control of the Philadelphi Corridor was a key sticking point in the negotiations.
Israel has killed more than 51,200 Palestinians in the enclave since October 2023, most of them women and children.
