Images have emerged that appear to show Israeli forces preparing to flood the labyrinth of tunnels under the Gaza Strip used by Hamas with seawater.
Israel is said to have completed the installation of at least five pumps about a mile north of the Al-Shati refugee camp that could move thousands of cubic meters of water per hour – meaning they could flood the 300-mile network of tunnels within weeks.
Their plan would be to drive the terrorists out of the tunnels and render them inoperable by flooding the system with seawater from the Mediterranean.
And now images released by the IDF appear to show dozens of Israeli soldiers erecting a series of black pipes on Gaza’s sandy beaches. Videos shared by Israeli media also appear to show IDF soldiers working on the pipes underground.
It was revealed on Monday that Israel has assembled a system of large pumps that could flood Hamas’s vast network of tunnels under the Gaza Strip with seawater, U.S. officials said.
The tactic would allow Israel to destroy the tunnels and kill any Hamas terrorists hiding inside, the officials told the Wall Street Journal.
It was not clear whether Israel would consider using the pumps before all the Israeli hostages were captured by Hamas terrorists on October 7, as any move to flood the tunnels would prove fatal for the prisoners.
And now images released by the IDF appear to show dozens of Israeli soldiers erecting a series of black pipes on Gaza’s sandy beaches
Videos shared by Israeli media also appear to show IDF soldiers working on the pipes underground
Videos shared by Israeli media also appear to show IDF soldiers working on the pipes underground
Israel is said to have completed the installation of at least five pumps about a mile north of the Al-Shati refugee camp that could move thousands of cubic meters of water per hour – meaning they could flood the 300-mile network of tunnels within weeks
Hamas had previously said it had hidden the hostages in “safe places and tunnels.”
However, footage shared by Israeli media appeared to show Israeli soldiers filling pipes and working on pumps underground.
And IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi appeared to confirm the report that Israel intends to flood Hamas’ tunnel network, calling it a “good idea.”
“We see a lot of underground infrastructure in Gaza, we knew there would be a lot.” “Part of the goal is to destroy that infrastructure,” Halevi said in response to a question about the report.
He said: “We have different options.” [to deal with the tunnels]”I won’t go into details, but these include explosives for destruction and other means to prevent Hamas operatives from using the tunnels to harm our soldiers.”
“Therefore, any means that gives us an advantage over the enemy is that.” [uses the tunnels], depriving it of this asset, is a tool whose use we are evaluating. “It’s a good idea, but I won’t comment on the details,” Halevi added.
Israel first informed the United States of this option last month, the newspaper said, reporting that officials did not know how close Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was to implementing the plan.
An IDF spokesman declined to comment on the plan to flood the tunnels, but told the WSJ: “The IDF is working to dismantle Hamas’s terrorist capabilities in a variety of ways, using various military and technological means sets in.”
Asked about the report, a U.S. official said it made sense for Israel to decommission the tunnels and that the country was exploring a number of options to do so.
The Hamas terrorists operate in a complex network of reinforced tunnels, some up to 40 feet underground, all concealing an ambush, booby-trapped – or worse – filled with explosives and ready to collapse.
That means Israel can bomb Gaza as often as it wants and fire bunker-busting munitions to clear some tunnels – but the IDF would still have to deploy thousands of troops to sweep through the “Gaza Metro” and everyone to neutralize the last Hamas fighters.
But this is not an easy task. Underground fighting is notoriously deadly work, especially when Israeli soldiers fight heavily armed Hamas terrorists who know every hiding place and have access to a stockpile of rockets, grenades and weapons.
One way to prevent a bloodbath for Israeli troops could be to flood the tunnels – and the IDF is considering such a move, according to US officials who spoke to WSJ.
The Israeli military informed the United States, its closest ally, of the option last month, sparking debate over how feasible it would be and what impact it would have on the environment.
Images released by the IDF appear to show dozens of Israeli soldiers erecting a series of black pipes on Gaza’s sandy beaches
Videos shared by Israeli media also appear to show IDF soldiers working on the pipes underground
An Israeli soldier walks through a tunnel under Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on November 22
U.S. officials said they did not know how close Israel was to implementing the plan, which Israel has not ruled out.
A mission aimed at flooding the tunnels under Gaza with seawater could wipe out the terrorists hiding there, but would also endanger the lives of the 138 hostages held by Hamas.
However, it is not clear whether Israel would even consider using the pumps before all the hostages are released.
And beyond that, any plan to wipe out the terrorists with a wall of seawater has its setbacks. The weeks-long process it would take to fill the labyrinth of tunnels could allow Hamas gunmen to move out before they are killed.
“We are not sure how successful the pumping will be as no one knows the details of the tunnels and the terrain around them,” said a person familiar with the plan.
“It’s impossible to know whether this will be effective because we don’t know how seawater drains into tunnels where no one has been before.”
This comes as Israel continues to reject US calls to curb its ground invasion as Israeli troops began their bloody new phase of the war, advancing into Gaza’s second-largest city, where Hamas terrorist leaders are believed to be hiding.
Israeli forces surrounded the southern town of Khan Yunis today, fighting terrorists in fierce street battles in what was some of the fiercest fighting of the two-month war.
The focus of the conflict has shifted to the south of the besieged region after heavy fighting and bombardment reduced much of the north to rubble and forced nearly two million people to flee their homes.
And despite Washington’s desperate calls for Israel to prevent more bloodshed in Gaza and provide more aid, Israeli forces, backed by warplanes, reached the heart of Khan Younis yesterday and surrounded the city – trapping the thousands of exhausted civilians who died had fled there.
The IDF’s goal is to wipe out the Hamas leaders it believes are hiding in Khan Younis, using innocent civilians as human shields.
But the costs of the war continue to rise: According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, more than 16,248 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict erupted two months ago.
Today, Israeli tanks, troops and bulldozers surrounded the southern city after what the IDF called “the fiercest day of fighting” since the start of the war.
Israeli air strikes destroyed buildings in Khan Younis today, with the IDF claiming it killed several Hamas commanders in an attack near the Indonesian hospital.
Hassan al-Qadi, a displaced resident of Khan Yunis, said: “The entire city is suffering from destruction and relentless shelling.”
“Many people arriving from the northern Gaza Strip are in a dire situation.” “Many are homeless and some are looking for their missing children.”
“We are not just numbers.” “We are people,” he said in the southern city of Rafah.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian terror group, said their fighters fought Israeli troops early today to prevent them from breaking into Khan Younis and surrounding areas.
“Our troops are now encircling the Khan Yunis area in the southern Gaza Strip,” Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said late Tuesday. “We have secured many Hamas strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip and are now taking action against their strongholds in the south.”
Tuesday’s fighting was “the most intense day since ground operations began” in late October, said the head of the Army’s Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday it had struck about 250 targets in Gaza in the past 24 hours and that troops were “continuing to locate weapons, underground mines, explosives and additional military infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, Hamas’ armed wing said it killed or wounded eight Israeli soldiers and destroyed 24 military vehicles on Tuesday. An Israeli military website listed two troop deaths for Tuesday and 83 since the ground operation began.
Israel continued to reject U.S. calls to calm its ground invasion as Israeli troops began their bloody new phase of the war, advancing into Gaza’s second-largest city, where Hamas terrorist leaders are believed to be hiding
This image released today by the IDF shows Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip
Injured Palestinian children await medical treatment at Nasser Hospital following the Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on Tuesday
Injured Palestinian children await medical treatment at Nasser Hospital following the Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on Tuesday
Israel declared war on Hamas following the terror group’s October 7 attacks, which killed 1,200 people and took around 240 hostages. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and free the 138 hostages still held after scores of hostages were released during a short-lived ceasefire.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, is also calling for greater efforts to prevent civilian deaths in Gaza. But Israel paid no attention to Washington as it continued its bloody new phase of war.
In fact, Gaza health officials said many civilians were killed in an Israeli strike on homes in Deir al-Balah, north of Khan Younis. Dr. Eyad Al-Jabri, head of Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital there, told Portal that at least 45 people were killed. Portal was unable to reach the area or confirm the toll.
According to Hamas, bombardments continued on Wednesday in areas in the central and northern Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said airstrikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed six people and wounded 14 others.
Israel had previously told civilians in the north of the densely populated Gaza Strip to seek shelter in the territory’s south. Many fled to Khan Yunis because they believed it would be safer there.
As the war spread, Israel urged people to move further south, causing “panic, fear and unrest,” according to Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA.
People are being pushed into an area that makes up less than a third of the Gaza Strip and roads in the south are clogged, he said.
International aid groups have condemned the successive orders to flee from one area to another, saying civilians were running out of options.
“Nowhere in Gaza is safe,” said Martin Griffiths, U.N. humanitarian chief. “No hospital, no emergency shelters, no refugee camps. “No one is safe.”
Following calls to create safe areas for civilians, the Israeli army published a map that would allow Gazans to “evacuate certain locations for their safety if necessary.”
However, the UN criticized the map on Tuesday, saying it was impossible to create safe zones for civilians to flee within the Gaza Strip.
“The so-called safe zones … are not scientific, they are not rational, they are not possible, and I think the authorities are aware of that,” said James Elder, spokesman for the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF.
At Khan Younis’ main Nasser hospital, the wounded arrived in an ambulance, a car, a flatbed truck and a donkey cart after survivors described an attack on a school used as a shelter for displaced people.
In one ward, nearly every inch of blood-spattered floor space was taken up by wounded people, including small children, as paramedics rushed from patient to patient as relatives wailed.
Two girls were treated, still covered in dust from the collapse of the house that buried their family.
“My parents are under the rubble,” one child sobbed. “I want my mother, I want my mother, I want my family.”
The violence in Gaza “now ranks among the worst attacks on the civilian population of our time,” according to the Norwegian Refugee Council, which also warned of the devastating public health consequences of the upcoming winter.
With their belongings piled on donkey carts, battered vehicles and camels, Gazans headed south to escape the expanding Israeli offensive.
An estimated 1.9 million people are displaced in Gaza – around three quarters of the population, according to the UN.
Amid ongoing international criticism of the plight in the Gaza Strip, the United States, Israel’s close ally, reiterated on Tuesday that Israel must do more to allow fuel and other aid into Gaza and reduce harm to civilians.
“The level of incoming assistance is not sufficient,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a news conference. “It has to go up, and we have made that clear to the Israeli government.”
This image released today by the IDF shows Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip
A Palestinian child injured in an Israeli airstrike arrives at Nasser Medical Hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday
Palestinians inspect the site of Israeli attacks in Khan Younis on Wednesday amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas
Palestinian children carry items as they walk at the site of Israeli attacks in Khan Younis on Wednesday
A photo taken on Wednesday from southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli Air Force attack helicopter firing a rocket into Gaza
Smoke rises in Gaza on Wednesday amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, seen from southern Israel
In the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said it had encircled the Jabalia refugee camp and also stormed a Hamas internal security command and control center. According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza, several people were killed and injured in Israeli attacks on Jabalia.
Fighting resumed in Gaza after a Qatari-brokered ceasefire collapsed on Friday, which saw scores of Israeli and other hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, said his country was “constantly working to renew” the ceasefire and denounced what he called “shameful” international inaction over the war.
Israeli police said they were investigating alleged sex crimes, and Israel’s Justice Ministry said “victims were tortured, physically abused, raped, burned alive and dismembered.”
US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday, citing survivors and witnesses, that Hamas repeatedly raped women and mutilated their bodies during its attack on southern Israel.
“It’s horrific,” he said at a political fundraiser in Boston.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited allegations of rape and other abuses at a meeting with families of returned hostages on Tuesday, which some participants said were angered by the government’s handling of the situation.
“I have heard stories that have broken my heart… I have heard, and you have also heard, about sexual assaults and cases of brutal rape that are unparalleled,” Netanyahu said at a news conference.
The war has raised fears of a wider regional conflict, with frequent exchanges of fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah across Israel’s border with Lebanon.
A Lebanese soldier was killed by Israeli fire on Tuesday at a military post near the country’s southern border, the army said.
The Israeli army acknowledged the incident, saying in a post on X that it had attacked a Hezbollah position to “eliminate an immediate threat.”
There has also been an increase in violence in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli troops raided the Faraa refugee camp in the north of the territory early Wednesday, triggering clashes that killed two people, one of them 16, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Palestinian authorities said the latest deaths added more than 250 people killed in the West Bank since October.