IDF admits it is flooding Hamas tunnels with seawater — a move that the US has warned could endanger hostages
Israel finally admitted Tuesday that it is pumping seawater into Hamas’ tunnels to try to dismantle the terror group’s underground network in Gaza — a move that the US has warned could endanger the hostages.
After more than a month of declining to comment on reports that the Israel Defense Forces was flooding Hamas tunnels using water from the Mediterranean Sea, Israeli officials finally acknowledged they are using the tactic.
“The IDF has implemented new capabilities during the war, with the aim of neutralizing underground terrorist infrastructure, including by channeling large volumes of water into them,” the Israeli military said in a statement on X.
“This is a significant tool in combating the threat of Hamas’ underground terrorist infrastructure,” the IDF added.
An Israeli TV reporter later tweeted footage of what he said was seawater being pumped into a Hamas tunnel.
US officials have expressed concerns over the strategy, warning that it could endanger the lives of the more than 100 hostages still being held by Hamas.
It is not clear whether any of the hostages are still in the tunnels.
Experts have also warned about the possible effects that pumping seawater underground could have on Gaza’s limited clean water supply, as well as possibly polluting the soil with hazardous materials from Hamas’ weapons hidden in the tunnels.
The method was implemented with the help of the Israeli Ministry of Defense and has been deployed only if appropriate after soldiers study the soil and water systems in the area, according to the IDF.
The flooding strategy was first uncovered in December after a Wall Street Journal report regarding the IDF’s construction of seven pumps in northern Gaza.
Israeli officials remained coy on reporters’ questions about the pumping, with IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi declining to confirm the flooding tactic at the time, merely calling it “a good idea.”
The IDF said it carries out a “professional and comprehensive” study on which tunnels are flooded so as to ensure the groundwater in Gaza is not contaminated.
Despite the use of flooding, explosives and precision airstrikes, Israel has only destroyed about 20% to 40% of Hamas’ estimated more than 300-mile-long subterranean system, US and Israeli officials told the Journal.
Last month, the IDF acknowledged it had discovered 800 tunnels during its ground assault in Gaza, with only 500 rendered inoperable at the time.
US and Israeli officials estimate that more than half of Hamas’ tunnels across Gaza are still operable, with much of the notorious so-called “Gaza Metro” still a mystery to the advancing IDF.
