Israeli forces have started pumping seawater into Hamas’ tunnel system under Gaza.
According to reports, Israel will spend weeks pumping water into the tunnels to try and destroy Hamas’ infrastructure in Gaza.
This could also help Israel find some of the hostages in Gaza, who could be being held in the tunnels.
However, Israel has been warned by some that this could constitute a war crime.
Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said during a United Nations Security Council meeting this week: “War crimes are snowballing — shocking reports have been circulated in recent days that Israel plans to flood underground facilities in the Gaza Strip with seawater.
“According to open sources, the IDF has already built a system of pumps and pipes to pump seawater and is currently discussing with the United States practical aspects of such flooding: whether there will be enough water or if the tunnels’ ‘topography’ is fit for that and so on.
“Such a step, if made, will constitute a blatant war crime.”
Some in the West have warned that this could lead to an environmental disaster.
Prof. (Emer.) Eilon Adar of the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in southern Israel, told the Times of Israel that this could impact Gazans’ access to clean water.
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He said: “As a citizen, despite the disaster that we experienced on October 7, I still think that in the long run — and we have to think of the future — it would be politically and morally incorrect to have a thirsty neighbor.”
In recent weeks, Israeli troops have been pictured setting up the pumps that could see Gazan tunnels flooded.
Senior US officials are also said to be sceptical about the plan.
A source told the Wall Street Journal: “We are not sure how successful pumping will be, since nobody knows the details of the tunnels and the ground around them.”
“It’s impossible to know if that will be effective because we don’t know how seawater will drain in tunnels no one has been in before.”
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