Tunnel warfare in the Gaza Strip: what Wikipedia removed
The Gaza Strip’s tunnel network was built by Hamas and other Palestinian groups to store weapons, move fighters, launch attacks and hold hostages. As of October 6, 2023 the opening quoted Israeli spokesmen who said the tunnels’ aim, as “terror tunnels,” was to harm Israeli civilians. Today’s opening no longer uses that term, though terror survives 35 times in the body. A reader today does not learn that Israeli officials call this network “terror tunnels.”
The word “terror” appeared 3 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 6 October 2023. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 35. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.
The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot
Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”| word | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| terror | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| militant | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| massacre | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| hostage | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.
What was taken out
Section titled “What was taken out”- A reader no longer learns that the tunnels were built specifically to be hidden and to conceal militants from aerial detection.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2015 (revision 669206306):
Not to be confused with Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels . IDF soldier overlooking an uncovered tunnel in the Gaza Strip In the Gaza Strip , the governing authority Hamas developed a sophisticated network of military tunnels . The tunnel system branches beneath many Gazan towns and cities, such as Khan Yunis , Jabalia and the Shati refugee camp . The internal tunnels, running some dozens of kilometres within the Gaza Strip, have several functions. Hamas uses the tunnels to hide its arsenal of rocketry underground, to facilitate communication, to permit munition stocks to be hidden and to conceal militants, making detection from the air difficult. The cross-border tunnels were used in the capture…
2025 (revision 1295025150):
Use of tunnels for military operations in the Gaza Strip Not to be confused with Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels . An Israeli soldier overlooking an uncovered Palestinian tunnel in the Gaza Strip during 2014 Gaza War A vast network of underground tunnels used for smuggling and warfare exists in the Gaza Strip . This infrastructure runs throughout the Gaza Strip and towards Egypt and Israel , and has been developed by Hamas and other Palestinian military organizations to facilitate the storing and shielding of weapons; the gathering and moving of fighters, including for training and communication purposes; the launching of offensive attacks against Israel; and the transportation of Israeli hosta…
Related
Section titled “Related”- The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
- The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
- Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
- The live article on Wikipedia
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