The underground refuge in northern Israel was dug nearly 2,000 years ago during a revolt against the Roman Empire. While the complex was first discovered decades ago, it is now being properly excavated.
The archeological discovery echoes some of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict issues.
The ancient Jewish labyrinth, consisting of narrow tunnels and caves designed to shelter entire families, was found in Huqoq in Galilee.
In a video by Al Jazeera, Uri Berger of the Israel Antiquities Authority said the network was dug “for families to hide while the Romans were here, because they feared for their lives, for their children.”
“We were amazed to see how big this complex is,” said Berger.
Under Roman occupation, Jewish rebels attempted two ill-fated revolts.
Professor Yinon Shivtiel of the Zefat Academic College, who is one of the excavation’s directors, said the findings indicate that the caves were “clearly in use” during the First Revolt, which took place from 66- 74 AD, and the Bar-Kochba Rebellion in 132-136 AD.
Eighty-three hiding complexes have been discovered, Haaretz reports.
“In all of them, we found pottery that testifies to the presence of Jews during the revolts against the Romans,” Shivtiel told the Times of Israel.
The tunnels of the rebel Jews weren’t used for combat
Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
While the tunnels being excavated in present-day Huqoq confirm the Jewish ancestral relationship with ancient Israel, they are close to land that includes the former village called Yaquq, once home to over 200 hundred Palestinian Arabs who farmed wheat, barley, olives, goats, and honey.
Yaquq was depopulated in the Israeli War of Independence, an event Palestinians call the Nakba, which means “catastrophe” in Arabic and refers to the mass displacement and dispossession of more than half the Palestinian population from the territory established as the Israeli state in 1948.
Meanwhile, today’s fighters in Gaza have also gone subterranean to avoid a more powerful enemy.
About 112 miles away from Huqoq, an elaborate network of tunnels used by Hamas, believed to be 350-450 miles long, have been constructed beneath the Gaza enclave.
Referred to as the “Gaza metro” by the Israel Defense Force (IDF), the labyrinth is used by Hamas and other militants to house weapons and supplies, imprison hostages kidnapped in Israel, and take cover and move around Gaza hidden from Israeli attacks.
The IDF has destroyed 20%-40% of the underground network during its six-month invasion of Gaza that was launched after October 7, say reports.
But Shivtiel told The Times of Israel that there is a “big difference” between the Hamas tunnels and the hiding complexes of the Jewish resistance of the Roman period — “it’s impossible to compare,” as the Jewish tunnels and cavities were not used for combat, he said.
“If you go into them, they are just like underground mamadim,” he said, referring to the contemporary Hebrew word for “safe rooms.”
Safe rooms are now commonplace in modern-day Israel after years of rocket attacks fired by militants from Gaza and Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon.
Reut Aisenberg, a resident of Tel Aviv, told Business Insider that “almost everyone” has a safe room in Israel.
Tunnel warfare has been used since the 9th century BC, first constructed by the ancient Middle Eastern empire of the Assyrians.
Business Insider contacted Yinon Shivtiel and the Israel Antiquities Authority for comment.
