The Hamas tunnels under Gaza are a source of fascination for the public, but the film and photographic record of the tunnel where six hostages were executed should have changed that. The tunnels are not a child’s science project. They are a weapon, no less than a bomb is a weapon.

Thankfully James Stavridis recognizes this and has explained it just about as clearly as possible. Stavridis is the former supreme allied commander of NATO. He has written a column about the Gaza tunnels and the historical context of tunnel warfare.

But the most important accomplishment of the column is the obvious implication that were Israel to listen to global pressure to cut and run, global security would be harmed, materially and perhaps irreversibly.

Stavridis doesn’t say this explicitly, perhaps because he doesn’t have to or because he doesn’t want to. But there is no escaping the lesson of this story.

“A year into Israel’s fight against Hamas,” Stavridis writes, “it has become clear that the military ‘center of gravity’ — the most important element of the conflict — is not the missiles or manpower of the terrorist group. Rather, it is the 400-plus miles of tunnels carved out under the Gaza Strip. From those tunnels, Hamas and its sponsor, Iran, were able to train, equip, organize and launch the horrific attacks of Oct. 7.”

From there Stavridis talks a bit about the history of tunnel-usage by both friends and foes, why and where and how they have existed. Hamas has taken a form of warfare into a new era, although Stavridis is quick to note that North Korea’s own tunnel system is surely more elaborate and hardened than the one underneath Gaza.

The discovery of Hamas’s tunnels, along with the Israeli military’s release of Hamas’s tunnel-training handbook, offers lessons. “First, traditional intelligence systems must put greater emphasis on the tunnel systems of Iran (concealing its nuclear program), North Korea (hiding not only nuclear weapons but also the launchers to deploy them) and terrorist groups.” To do this will require the refinement of technology and the sharpening of human intelligence wherever such tunnels are found—such as in Gaza. Underground systems of this size and complexity are newly discovered territory.

Next, once we get a picture of these tunnels from the inside, Stavridis implores the West to train its militaries specifically for combat underground and to integrate engineering units into that training.

From there, the focus would shift to improving technology: “These include intelligence systems that can detect and measure tunnel complexes from space or using long-dwell drones. (This would potentially include hyperspectral technology — high-resolution imaging based on information across the electromagnetic spectrum — to see the movement of earth as tunnels are expanded.) Also necessary are unmanned above-ground capabilities — sonic, infrared and light-detecting — that can operate ahead of human troops to reduce casualties. It would be useful to find new ways to make life underground unpalatable: reducing air and water for example, or by creating unpleasant vapors.”

That last part is complicated at the moment, as Stavridis notes: Hamas is still holding innocent hostages in the tunnels. They cannot all simply be flooded or destroyed at will, nor can they be used to test air-and-water reduction with civilians still in them. So long as that remains the case, Stavridis writes, “count on other adversaries to take a page from Hamas’ book and start conflicts by kidnapping a substantial number of civilians or military personnel.”

As always, the military innovations developed by terrorists and rogue states for use against Israel will be used against the rest of the world. Israel’s discovery of those tunnels came too late to save its own people from a massive attack. But the lessons here can save millions in the future.

Unless, of course, the West forfeits those lessons. Stavridis says nothing about the end game of this war, because that is not the subject of his column. But the pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire that would leave part of Hamas and part of its underground infrastructure permanently intact and uninvestigated would be a global calamity.

Israel must win this war, and it must be allowed to define victory for itself. The dismissive comments from Joe Biden and others that total victory is either impossible or unidentifiable are dangerous nonsense. Hamas must be defeated completely and those tunnels must serve as a textbook for military strategists. No one in the West who truly values life and liberty should want any corner of this tunnel system left unseen or untouched. Israel’s sacrifices can only pave the way for the upholding of the security of the free world if the free world desires that very safety and security for itself.