A recent revelation has exposed a link between a seemingly routine construction project in Israel and Islamic attack preparations in Gaza.
Attorney Eliram Elgrably recounted the story of how he facilitated the purchase of sand that originated from the excavation of Hamas Islamic organization attack tunnels.
Two years ago, Elgrably was approached by a contractor seeking legal assistance for a deal to purchase sand at an unusually low price. The sand was allegedly sourced from the Palestinian Authority.
It was later revealed that the sand, instead of being mined from the sea as assumed, was actually excavated from the extensive network of attack tunnels built beneath Gaza.
These tunnels, used for military purposes and smuggling, have been a major source of tension and conflict between Israel and Hamas, with the IDF claiming 891 soldiers killed, and 5,569 wounded (as of December 26, 2024 – numbers have increased since the last official update) in operations related to Gaza, a significant portion of those casualties associated with tunnel warfare.
The realization that his clients had unwittingly funded Hamas’s activities left Elgrably’s contractors with a sense of dishonor, shame, and demoralization.
Elgrably relates: “About two years ago, a client, a contractor from central Israel, came to my office and told me he found sea sand at a price that was nothing short of a dream: 40% cheaper than the lowest price you can find on the market. Anyone who has ever mixed a little concrete in their life knows that sand is a basic commodity at any construction site, and a price like the one offered to him in the deal could reduce costs by millions. Where does the sand come from? From the Palestinian Authority, I was told. In short, they asked me to draft a quick agreement and off we go.”
He continues: “This deal had a broker, who for the sake of the story we will call Khaled. Khaled undertook to dig the sand and supply it in trucks to a certain site in the south. There was only one small catch with Khaled: the sand he undertook to supply was mined, according to him, by the ‘Palestinian Authority in Gaza.’ It sounded a little suspicious to me because the Palestinian Authority in Gaza was cast off the roofs in 2007 and since then none of them have raised their head there. When I called Khaled he hinted to me gently that I shouldn’t ask too many questions and mind my own business, otherwise the deal would explode. Well, if no one asks difficult questions, then I have no reason to be a nuisance either. Sand is sand, what could go wrong?”
“My role in the story was, as mentioned, to write an agreement between the contractor and Khaled. I‘ve seen more dubious and less dubious contracts in my life – especially when it comes to deals with our cousins – so I was not particularly bothered. Those were the days of suitcases of money from Qatar to Gaza and my thought was that there was probably some wheeler-dealer who took a piece of the coast in the Gush Katif area and from there sold the sand to Israel. In the middle, as usual, there are a few middlemen who clip their coupons, but overall, it’s a legitimate deal.
“After email exchanges and drafting a not very long agreement, the parties arrived for the signing. There were smiles, handshakes, potato knishes, and coke. I sometimes take out whiskey for the ‘l’chaim‘, but out of respect for half the people sitting at the table – we decided to forego the alcohol. The deal was signed. I didn’t hear from this group anymore.
“A month and a half after October 7th I get a call. One of the Israeli brokers in the deal is on the line.
‘Remember the sand deal we signed at your place?,’ he asks.
‘Yes, of course, what’s the story?’
‘Listen what idiots we are,’ he continues, ‘blind, insane.’
‘The deal’s probably over now.’
‘Forget about the deal. Listen up: All these tunnels that our soldiers are finding now in Gaza, hundreds of kilometers I tell you, where do you think all the sand from the excavations went? How come our intelligence didn’t see mountains and hills of sand everywhere? So, listen, all this sand was loaded onto trucks, and from there to the wheeler-dealers who sold it to idiots like us. Not a grain of sand came out of the sea, all the sand we talked about with Khaled, is sand that was taken out of their underground city that they built under the ground. It’s unbelievable. I want to bang my head against the wall, how did we not see all this in front of our eyes?”
The trucks of sand passed through Israeli security checkpoints, answering Elgrably’s contractor’s question regarding how Israeli intelligence was ignorant of the excavation: They were not ignorant about it. The existence of tunnels was well-known to all Israelis from media reports, and was the subject of security briefings given by Israeli officials to visiting U.S. congressmen.
There may be international legal and trade restrictions on the use of these materials, as purchasing this sand likely provided a source of revenue for Hamas, to fund further Islamic activities against Israeli citizens.
Although the purchase and use of sand excavated from attack tunnels could be seen as indirectly supporting and funding Islamic terror activities, some Israeli officials apparently exploited the conflict for economic gain.
According to various sources, including Israeli defense officials and news reports, the estimated length of Hamas’s Gaza tunnel network ranges from hundreds to over 300 miles (480 kilometers).
Although the actual amount of sand produced could vary depending on specific geological conditions and the method of excavation, the estimated mass of sand produced by excavating 480 kilometers of subterranean tunnels with a width of 2 meters high by 2 meters wide is 3,072,000 tons.
Sand in Israel costs 100 shekels per ton, so the discounted price of a 20-ton truck of sand would be 1,200 shekels.
3,072,000 divided by 20 equals 153,600 truckloads of sand, for a total of 184,320,000 shekels, or about $51,000,000 U.S. dollars.
