Israel has set up a system of large pumps it could use to flood the Hamas tunnel network in Gaza with seawater, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Quoting US officials, the report says that the IDF completed assembling pumps last month that are capable of pumping thousands of cubic meters of water per hour from the Mediterranean into the tunnels, flooding them within weeks.
Israel, which told the US about the plan early last month hasn’t yet decided to move ahead with the plan but hasn’t ruled it out.
A source familiar with the plan said that the lengthy process of flooding the tunnels would allow Hamas terrorists, and potentially hostages, to leave the tunnels.
“We are not sure how successful pumping will be since nobody knows the details of the tunnels and the ground around them,” the person said. “It’s impossible to know if that will be effective because we don’t know how seawater will drain in tunnels no one has been in before.”
It’s difficult to assess the impact of pumping seawater into the tunnels as it’s unknown how permeable they are, said Jon Alterman, senior vice president at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“It’s hard to tell what pumping seawater will do to the existing water and sewage infrastructure. It is hard to tell what it will do to groundwater reserves. And it’s hard to tell the impact on the stability of nearby buildings,” Alterman said.
The flooding of Hamas tunnels in the area is not unprecedented. In 2015, Egypt used seawater to flood tunnels used by Hamas smugglers under the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
Wouldn’t flooding the tunnels with sewage be far more appropriate??
Crazy idea, the hostages are locked in their rooms, they would all drown. They should do this AFTER all the hostages are released!!
Instead of with seawater, how about with sewage water from cesspool?
I did not know that the IDF needed advice from all the brilliant chachomim who commented on YWN. Rif, maybe give up your day job (assuming you have one) and apply for a job with the IDF Suggestion Unit.
In addition to drowning the hostages, it would also seriously and permanent destroy the infrastructure of Gaza (and Israel will sooner rather than later be expected to pay to put Gaza back together again), and would hardly put Hamas (and its allies) out of business. They should look for ways to re-cycle the tunnels (e.g make them part of buildings). Especially if Israel gets its way and reoccupies Gaza, as the occupying power they get to rebuild it (cf: United States role in rebuilding Germany).
To 147: Do you have any family who are held by Hamas? I think I have asked you before, and I don’t think you answered.