Wall Street Journal: Israel plans to flood the entire Hamas tunnel system under the Gaza Strip

Citing US officials, the report said the Israel Defense Forces last month installed five large water pumps near the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City that can flood the underground network within weeks, pumping thousands of cubic meters of water into the tunnels per hour.

Officials say Israel warned the US of the plan last month but has not yet decided whether to go ahead with it.

According to the report, opinions were split within the Biden administration, with some officials expressing concern about Israel’s plan, while others said they supported Israel’s efforts to destroy the tunnels and said there were not necessarily American objections.

Among the fears cited in the report is potential damage to Gaza’s aquifers and soil if seawater and hazardous materials in the tunnels seep through.

“We are not sure how successful the pumping will be because no one knows the details of the tunnels and the soil around them,” a person familiar with the plan was quoted as saying. “It’s impossible to know if it will be effective because we don’t know how seawater will drain in tunnels that nobody has been in before.”