Direct proof of use
RUSI's study of IDF operations in Gaza City in autumn 2023 reported that Hamas had laid mines along roads, but not in enough concentration to require the originally expected number of armored engineering vehicles. RUSI added that many of the road mines it described were surface-laid, making them easier for Israeli forces to detect and remove.
Mine Action Review's 2025 Palestine report separately recorded post-October 7 reporting that Hamas had laid mines in the Gaza Strip, which it said had not previously been known to be mined. The report cited Fenix Insight data suggesting Hamas use of antipersonnel and anti-vehicle mines in Gaza during 2024 and 2025, ACLED records of reported Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad antipersonnel mine or IED use in 2024, and a May 2025 report that nine Israeli soldiers were injured by a landmine in Gaza City.
The clearest public evidence supports mine use as a route-denial, ambush, and urban-obstacle tactic by Hamas and Gaza-based armed groups. Later mine-action reporting also warns that many Gaza mine-use allegations do not establish whether a device was victim-activated, which would classify it as an antipersonnel mine, or remotely detonated.
Sources: RUSI Tactical Lessons from IDF Operations in Gaza, 2023, Mine Action Review Palestine 2025
Timeline
The public record begins with Hamas's prepared defense of Gaza City in autumn 2023. RUSI described mined roads during Israeli operations in Gaza City, while Landmine Monitor 2024 later summarized repeated Al-Qassam Brigades statements since October 7, 2023 claiming use of landmines in Gaza, including antipersonnel mines.
Mine Action Review reported that the 2024 and first-half 2025 record included suspected antipersonnel and anti-vehicle mine use in Gaza. It identified infrequent reports of antipersonnel mine incidents between January 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025, including locally manufactured mines, and noted a May 2025 Gaza City landmine casualty incident reported by media.
Sources: RUSI Tactical Lessons from IDF Operations in Gaza, 2023, Landmine Monitor 2024, Mine Action Review Palestine 2025, The New Arab Gaza Live Report
Battlefield role
In Gaza, documented landmine use overlaps with the conflict's urban and subterranean fighting. The 2023 RUSI evidence places mines on roads into Gaza City, where they functioned as obstacles to movement and route-clearance hazards rather than as dense conventional minefields. That road-emplacement pattern fits the parent landmine category and also supports the narrower surface-laid landmine context.
The later monitoring record broadens the picture from road obstacles to reported improvised antipersonnel and anti-vehicle mine use. Landmine Monitor 2024 said Al-Qassam Brigades and affiliated media had repeatedly claimed landmine use in Gaza after October 7, 2023, while Mine Action Review 2025 linked reports to locally manufactured mines and to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad incidents recorded as antipersonnel mines or IEDs. Those sources support continued mine warfare in the conflict, but they do not identify a single standardized mine model across all reported incidents.
The 2025 casualty reporting gives one public incident marker. The New Arab, citing Israel Army Radio, reported on May 10, 2025 that nine Israeli soldiers, including two commanders, were injured in a Gaza City landmine explosion. Mine Action Review cited the same May 2025 incident while cautioning that the broader reporting often leaves activation method unresolved.
Sources: RUSI Tactical Lessons from IDF Operations in Gaza, 2023, Landmine Monitor 2024, Mine Action Review Palestine 2025, The New Arab Gaza Live Report
