Israel has set up a seawater pumping system that can be used to flood tunnels used by Hamas in Gaza. The operation, revealed by the American newspaper Wall Street Journal this Monday (04), seeks to expel militants from the radical group from the region.
In November, the Israeli army completed the installation of at least five water pumps near the Al-Shati refugee camp. They have the capacity to move thousands of cubic meters of water per hour, flooding the tunnels within weeks, the report says.
According to the newspaper, there is no information whether Israel is considering using the water pump system before all the hostages are released. Hamas previously said it hid prisoners in “safe places and tunnels.”
Reuters was unable to independently verify the details of the report released by the Wall Street Journal.
When asked about the report, US government officials said it made sense for Israel to make the tunnels uninhabitable and that the country was exploring a number of ways to do so.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters at press time.
The Wall Street Journal said an Israel Defense Forces official declined to comment on the flood plan, but was quoted saying: “The army is operating to dismantle Hamas’ terrorist capabilities in a variety of ways, using different military tools and technologies.”
Israel first informed the United States of the option last month, the Wall Street Journal said; reporting that authorities did not know how close Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was to carrying out the plan.
Israel has not yet decided whether it will go ahead with the operation, according to the sources cited in the report.
Source: CNN Brasil
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