2023-12-08 12:56:38
Israel is considering flooding the vast network of tunnels dug under the Gaza Strip, where Hamas fighters are hiding, American officials reported to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in an article published Monday, December 4. According to the media, the Israeli army would like to force the men of the Palestinian Islamist movement to leave by injecting what it calls “the Gaza metro” thousands of cubic meters of sea water. A strategy which would destroy the underground maze, but which would also endanger the supply of drinking water, estimate American sources.
Underground maze
According to the WSJ, Israel has “assembled a system of pumps” of sea water, since mid-November, on the northern coast of the Palestinian territory, near the al-Shati refugee camp. Five pumps could draw water from the Mediterranean Sea and pump out thousands of cubic meters per hour, flooding the labyrinth of tunnels within weeks.
Unknowns remain about the feasibility of this project, while the efficiency of the pumping is not assured. “It is impossible to know if the pumping will be effective, because we do not know how seawater will flow into tunnels that no one has ever entered before”estimates a WSJ source.
Israel is convinced that the Palestinian Islamist movement directs and organizes most of its operations from the sprawling network of tunnels which has proliferated since the blockade of Gaza in 2007. Sunk 30, 40 or even 70 meters underground, the most sophisticated cavities , made of reinforced concrete, contain ventilation systems as well as electrical and communication lines.
On Sunday, December 3, the Israeli army announced that it had discovered 800 tunnel shafts since the start of its land invasion, including 500 decommissioned. Some experts believe that this “ real underground city » has around 1,300 galleries, with a total length of around 500 km. In May 2021, when Israel claimed to have destroyed 100 kilometers of tunnels, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar retorted that “the occupier had not even succeeded in destroying 5% of the Gaza metro”.
Environmental risks
However, American officials cited by the WSJ warn of the consequences of such a project on the environment and in particular, on the aquifers of the Gaza Strip, shallow and already highly salinized. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 97% of Gaza’s fresh water no longer meets quality standards, due to salinity, sewage dumping and agricultural chemical runoff, forcing the majority Gazans to obtain their supplies via private tankers or small desalination plants.
This flooding strategy is not new. Egypt had already injected water into smuggling tunnels between 2013 and 2016, to reduce the traffic of goods and armies between Gaza and Sinai, plagued by an insurgency. By flooding the border area, it destroyed up to 90% of the tunnels, in which several Palestinians lost their lives. In addition, Palestinian farmers had complained of salt poisoning of wells and reduced yields due to salt water entering agricultural land.
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