Dec 5, 2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
Bankrupt of
targets to score any victory against Hamas, the ‘Israeli’ regime has readied
plans to flood the resistance group’s system of tunnels under the Gaza Strip
with water pumped from the Mediterranean Sea, a move in an attempt to destroy
its subterranean network of passages and hideaways and driving its fighters
above ground, according to a report Monday.
Quoting US officials, the Wall Street Journal reported that the ‘Israeli’ occupation forces last month set up five large water pumps near the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, which are capable of flooding the tunnels within weeks by pumping thousands of cubic meters of water per hour into them.
The
officials said ‘Israel’ alerted the US about the plan last month, but has not
yet decided on whether to implement it.
The report
noted it was unclear whether the ‘Israeli’ military would move to flood the
tunnels before all of the captives that Hamas and other Palestinian resistance
groups took during the October 7 Operation Al-Aqsa Flood were released, due to
the apparent risk that would be posed to captives being held underground.
According
to the report, opinions in Biden administration were mixed, with some officials
expressing concern about the ‘Israeli’ plan while others said they back
‘Israel’s’ attempts to destroy the tunnels and that there isn’t necessarily any
American opposition.
Among the
concerns cited by the newspaper were potential damage to Gaza’s aquifer and
soil, if seawater and hazardous substances in the tunnels seeps into them, as
well as the possible impact on the foundations of buildings.
“We are not
sure how successful pumping will be since nobody knows the details of the
tunnels and the ground around them,” a person familiar with the plan told the
Wall Street Journal. “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.”
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