Hamas militants are embedding themselves in tunnels and within civilian populations to drag out the war in Gaza, according to an investigation by the New York Times.

Hamas’ military strategy aims to “avoid direct confrontation,” Salah al-Din al-Awaedeh, a Hamas member and former fighter, told the NYT. “The aim is to vanish…while launching tactical attacks against the occupation army,” he said.

The NYT investigation, which relies on analyses of battlefield videos, and interviews with Hamas members and Israeli soldiers, lays out key elements of Hamas’ military strategy.

The investigation reveals Hamas uses “hundreds of miles of tunnels” – more than Israeli commanders expected – to move around Gaza unseen. Hamas weaponises civilian homes and infrastructure, including hospitals and UN offices, to conceal ammunitions and hide militants.

Hamas’ strategy is consistent with guerilla warfare tactics used by insurgent groups across the world including the Taliban and the Viet Cong Small groups of fighters, dressed as civilians, ambush Israeli soldiers. Other militants lay traps, using children as lookouts. The aim is to drag out the war for as long as possible, even at the expense of more civilian deaths.

Hamas’ own propaganda videos, posted on social media, show small militant groups, often dressed as civilians, attacking Israeli tanks and soldiers.

Guerilla warfare has been Hamas strategy since October 27, when the ground invasion began. Lior Soharin, an Israeli reserve sergeant major, overran a Hamas outpost close to the border just as the war began. He told the NYT the outpost was empty. “We learned in retrospect that they were there — just underneath the ground,” he said.

According to Israeli officials, these guerilla tactics explain why Israel has been forced to target civilian inftrastructure.

The investigation also reveals that Hamas’ military tactics – which include using civilians, including children, as lookouts – could be in breach of international law. The Geneva convention states that parties in conflict must “avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas” alongside other necessary precautions to protect the civilian population.

Years before October 7, Hamas had already been preparing for war, according to the NYT investigation. Since 2021, Hamas has been scaling back production of long range rockets to prioritise explosives and anti-tank missiles. It also expanded its network of tunnels, creating entry points within civilian infrastructure, including homes.

By the start of the war, Hamas had enough ammunition for an extended campaign. Andreas Krieg, an expert on military strategy at King’s College London, told the NYT: “They’re nowhere near being defeated”.