‘Part of tool series’: Israeli army confirms Gaza tunnel flooded

The war between Israel and Hamas began after the attack on October 7 last year.

Jerusalem:

The Israeli army said on Tuesday it was diverting water into Gaza tunnels to destroy a vast underground network used by Hamas militants to launch attacks against Israel.

“This is part of a series of tools deployed by the Israeli military to neutralize threats from Hamas’ network of underground tunnels,” the military said in a statement, confirming media reports.

When the war began in October, the Gaza Strip had 1,300 tunnels more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) long, dubbed the “Gaza Metro” by the Israeli military, according to a study by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Hamas launched an attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, and the military vowed to destroy them, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.

About 250 hostages were also dragged to Gaza during the October 7 attack, of which about 132 are still being held and at least 28 of their bodies are believed to have been killed.

Since the Hamas attack, Israel has launched a devastating land, sea and air offensive in Gaza that has killed at least 26,751 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The Israeli army says many hostages taken by Hamas have been or continue to be held in a vast network of tunnels.

In December, some Israeli media reported that the military was leaning toward flooding the tunnels with seawater pumped from the Mediterranean.

But experts warn that this option is dangerous and poses huge risks to Gaza’s civilian population under siege.

“This will cause serious damage to Gaza’s already fragile water and sewage infrastructure,” Lynn Hastings, then the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian Territories, warned in December.

“Buildings and roads are even at risk of collapse due to increased pressure and seawater seeping into Gaza.”

On Tuesday, the military said it had taken steps to avoid “damaging groundwater in the area.”

“Pumping takes place only on suitable tunnel routes and locations, with operating methods matched to the specific circumstances,” it said.

“The tool is one of a series of capabilities developed by the IDF and Israeli security agencies in recent years to target Hamas’ underground infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.”

The maze of tunnels was initially used to bypass Israel’s devastating blockade of the Gaza Strip after Hamas came to power in 2007, allowing people, goods and weapons to be smuggled in and out of Egypt.

It expanded this network after Israel’s 2014 war with Hamas and used them to launch rocket attacks against Israel across Gaza.

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