Israeli army started pumping seawater into Gaza’s tunnels
US media reported that on December 12, the Israeli army declared that it had started pumping seawater into tunnels beneath besieged Gaza, an act that will cause huge environmental damage.
No more information was provided since the Israeli army didn’t declare more yet.
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal, citing US officials, reported that Israel built a large system of pumps that may be used to flood Resistance tunnels under the Gaza Strip, reported Maghrebi. It aims to force out Palestinian fighters.
Around mid-November, Israel’s army completed the structure of at least five pumps about a mile north of the Al-Shati refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, that could move thousands of cubic meters of water per hour, flooding the tunnels within weeks, the report said. Some US officials have expressed support for this plan. However, the support decreased when they realized that this move could kill Israeli hostages.
Most of the tunnels were built in the 80s when they were used to smuggle goods under Rafah, which was divided into a Gazan part and an Egyptian part.
The Palestinian Resistance invested in expanding the dimensions and the purpose of the tunnels after Israel put the entire region under siege.
The seawater, if flushed into the tunnels, would compromise the already highly salinised water supply of Gaza, and result in catastrophic environmental damage. The International Criminal Court (ICC) recognizes environmental destruction as a war crime, that may be added to the other war crimes Israel committed during this war.
The war has destroyed the majority of Gaza’s infrastructure. According to the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell, this destruction is worse than the one in Germany in the Second World War.
The New Arab/Context News
