Times of Israel: Operations of pumping seawater into the tunnels in Gaza have succeeded and will continue for weeks

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The Times of Israel said that an attempt to pump seawater into the tunnel network under Gaza was successful, at a time when the army announced “new combat methods for dealing with underground terrorists”.

The Israeli newspaper confirmed that the tunnel flooding operations have already begun, albeit with a limited experimental capacity, indicating their success.

Last week, the Israeli Army Chief of Staff, General Herzi Halevy, considered flooding the tunnels a good idea, refusing to provide further information on the matter.

In response to a question about concerns that this step might harm the Israeli hostages, especially since some of them were kidnapped inside the tunnels, the Israeli army spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said in a press conference, Thursday, that the Israeli army is working based on intelligence information it has regarding the location where it’s believed; The hostages are there, and the army won’t take steps to harm them.

On the other hand, Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official in Lebanon, responded to these operations, saying that the Hamas movement’s tunnels are designed to withstand floods, in addition to other potential dangers.

Last week, the Israeli army announced the discovery of more than 800 tunnel openings in the Strip since the beginning of the ground attack in the Strip in late October, revealing that about 500 of them had been destroyed.

Previously, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Israeli army set up five large water pumps near the Beach refugee camp in Gaza City, capable of flooding the tunnels within weeks by pumping thousands of cubic meters of water into them.

Environmental experts warned of the long-term effects of this step on the soil and groundwater in the Strip, if seawater and hazardous materials in the tunnels seep into them, as well as the potential impact on building foundations.

The Wall Street Journal quoted US officials as saying that the Israeli army has begun pumping seawater into the Hamas tunnel complex in Gaza, adding that the process will likely take weeks.

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