‘A wall of iron, sensors and concrete’: Israel completes 65-km Gaza barrier

Three and a half years in construction, the barrier includes a sensor-equipped underground wall, a six-metre high above-ground fence, and a sea barrier that detects naval incursions

Israel completes vast, billion-dollar Gaza barrier (Haaretz)
A barrier stretching the entire border between Israel and the Gaza Strip has been completed after three and a half years of work, the Defence Ministry announced on Tuesday.

The barrier is 65 kilometres long, and cost an estimated ($US1.1 billion) to build. Its development was announced in 2016, two years after Hamas used underground tunnels to target Israeli troops during fighting between Israel and the militant group.

The barrier features a sensor-equipped underground wall, a six-metre high above-ground fence, and a barrier at sea with monitoring equipment to detect incursions from the water. In addition, the wall includes remotely controlled weapons systems and an array of radar systems with cameras that cover the entire territory of the Gaza Strip.

Israel also built control rooms for the army's battalions, brigades and the division serving in the Gaza Strip to direct fighting and operations. Advanced intelligence and monitoring systems were installed along the barrier to prevent infiltration across the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip.

‘A wall of iron, sensors and concrete’: IDF completes tunnel-busting Gaza barrier (Times of Israel)
IDF chief Aviv Kohavi says new 65-km above- and below-ground fence is changing the reality along the restive border, where subterranean attacks have dogged the military for years

Photo: Israeli soldiers secure the site of a ceremony marking the completion of an enhanced security barrier along the Israel-Gaza border, on Tuesday, December 7 (Tsafrir Abayov/AP)