Israel has set up a large system of pumps, potentially to flood tunnels under the Gaza Strip, aiming to displace Hamas fighters, Wall Street Journal reported.
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt Gen. Herzi Halevi also confirmed on Tuesday that Israel aims to flood Hamas’s tunnel network in the Gaza Strip, calling it “a good idea.”
“We are seeing a lot of underground infrastructure in Gaza, we knew there would be a lot. Part of the goal is to destroy this infrastructure,” Halevi said in response to a question at a press conference, regarding a report in The Wall Street Journal.
A US official, when asked about the development, as reported by Wall Street Journal, indicated that it would make sense for Israel to render the tunnels inoperable and that the country was exploring various options to achieve that goal.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) official mentioned that the IDF is working to dismantle Hamas’s capabilities through different military and technological means.
Israel had reportedly informed the United States of this option last month, but the Wall Street Journal noted that officials were uncertain about the government’s proximity to implementing the plan.
The Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has soared to 16,248 people, the government media office in the besieged Palestinian enclave said Tuesday, Anadolu Agency reported.
“The victims include 7,112 children and 4,885 women, while more than 43,616 others were injured,” the report said quoting government office saying in a statement. According to the media office, some 7,600 people remain unaccounted for.
