Middle East - Report: Israel has pumps to flood Gaza tunnel
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.
As theWall Street Journal reported, citing US government officials, it is not known 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. Each of the at least five pumps could draw water from the Mediterranean Sea and direct thousands of cubic meters of water per hour into the tunnels, flooding them within a few weeks, the newspaper reported.
Discussion about tactics
With such a tactic, Israel would be able to destroy the tunnels and drive the terrorists out of their underground hideout, it said. On the other hand, this would threaten the Gaza Strip 's water supply, the US officials were quoted as saying. Israel first informed the US of this option in early November, triggering a discussion in which the feasibility and environmental impact were weighed against the military value of taking out the tunnels, the report said.
The Israeli army says it has found more than 800 tunnel shafts since the start of the Gaza war. Around 500 of these have already been destroyed, the military announced on Sunday. Some of the tunnel shafts connected strategic Hamas facilities underground, it said in a statement. Many kilometers of underground tunnel routes had been destroyed. The information could not initially be independently verified.
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- The innovative use of large pumps by Israel to flood Hamas's tunnel network in the Gaza Strip was discussed by US officials, who expressed concerns about the potential impact on the region's water supply.
- The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel had installed at least five seawater pumps north of the Al-Shati refugee camp, capable of flooding the extensive Hamas tunnel network in a matter of weeks.
- The Israeli military announced that they had destroyed around 500 of the over 800 tunnel shafts discovered in the Gaza Strip since the start of the conflict, many of which connected strategic Hamas facilities.
- According to a media report, the USA was informed of Israel's plan to flood the tunnels with seawater in early November, sparking discussions about the feasibility and environmental impact of such a tactic.
- The Palestinian territories have been plagued by conflicts between Israel and Hamas, with the Gaza Strip often bearing the brunt of military actions, and the recent discussions about flood prevention tactics highlighting the constant tension in the Middle East.
- Israel's controversial strategy to combat Hamas's tunnel network in the Gaza Strip has once again raised questions about the impact of military actions on civilians, specifically in regards to the water supply and potential flooding of the already overburdened region.
Source: www.stern.de
