Israel still hesitates with tunnel flooding in Gaza
The extensive tunnel system under the Gaza Strip is the biggest challenge for Israel's army in the fight against Hamas. The technology required to flood the shafts has been ready for weeks. So far, however, the government has shied away from using it.
According to a media report, Israel has assembled a system of large pumps with which it could flood the extensive network of tunnels of the Islamist Hamas under the Gaza Strip with seawater. The Wall Street Journal, citing US government officials, writes that it is not certain whether the Israeli government intends to use this tactic. Israel has neither made a final decision nor ruled out such a plan, the officials were quoted as saying.
Israeli forces completed the installation of large seawater pumps north of the Al-Shati refugee camp in mid-November, they said. According to the Wall Street Journal, each of at least five pumps could draw water from the Mediterranean and direct thousands of cubic meters of water per hour into the tunnels, flooding them within a few weeks. With such a tactic, Israel would be able to destroy the tunnels and drive the terrorists out of their underground hideout.
However, this approach would threaten the Gaza Strip's water supply. According to the report, Israel first informed the USA about the option at the beginning of November, triggering a discussion in which the feasibility and environmental impact were weighed up against the military value of eliminating the tunnels.
According to the Israeli army, it has found more than 800 tunnel shafts since the beginning of the Gaza war. Around 500 of these have already been destroyed, the military announced on Sunday. Some of the shafts had connected strategic Hamas facilities underground. Many kilometers of underground tunnel routes have been destroyed.
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Source: www.ntv.de
