“Israel” Confirms Flooding Tunnels in Gaza with Seawater

By Staff, Agencies

“Israeli” army announced on Tuesday that it had been flooding some tunnels in the Gaza Strip with seawater, confirming what had been an open secret for several weeks.

Several “Israeli” army units and officials at war ministry jointly developed “several tools for injecting high-flow water into Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip,” the military said in a statement, adding that it is “part of the variety of tools the ‘Israeli’ army has for dealing with tunnels.”

The “Israeli” army clarified that not all tunnels were being flooded, as the process, which includes attaching pipes and pumps to the shafts, was not suited to all the tunnels and could severely damage some areas.

Earlier this month, senior “Israeli” military officials estimated to The New York Times that Hamas’s tunnel network runs 350-400 miles long, much more than previously believed. The tunnels are believed to be accessed by some 5,700 shafts.

A Wall Street Journal report on Sunday said that up to 80 percent of the tunnels were still intact after close to four months of fighting.