Haaretz Reveals How Israel Failed to Flood the Tunnels

An investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, published on Thursday, July 25, 2024, revealed that the Israeli military has failed for months in its attempt to flood resistance tunnels in the Gaza Strip.

The newspaper, citing informed sources, reported that the Israeli military turned to flooding the tunnels after facing difficulties in locating them since the beginning of the war on Gaza in October 2023.

According to these sources, military leaders acted swiftly under pressure due to the lack of significant achievements against Hamas in the early stages of the war.

One source noted that the Israeli military lacked clear information about the tunnels and their construction methods, yet decided to attempt flooding them with seawater due to the pressures they faced.

Israeli forces installed water pipes across various parts of Gaza but encountered obstacles due to the absence of information about those inside the tunnels, including whether there were any Israeli captives, according to the sources.

The newspaper reported that the Israeli military targeted a large tunnel in Gaza, believed to be housing Hamas leaders, despite the significant likelihood of Israeli captives being present as well.

After the flooding attempt, the military could not gather information about the results or the fate of those inside the tunnel, whether Hamas fighters or Israeli captives.

The Israeli military announced the operation, named “Atlantis,” in January, three months after the war began, stating it would pump massive amounts of seawater through networks of pipes and pumps to flood the tunnels.

An Israeli senior officer said the military leadership believed that flooding the tunnels would eliminate Hamas members and that the survivors would be killed by the army, but this did not materialize.

One source mentioned that following the tunnel flooding attempts, discussions in Israel focused on Hamas’s tunnel construction methods and why the tunnels had not flooded over the years due to rainwater.

Israel discovered that Hamas built the tunnels at different levels and slopes, created a rainwater drainage system, and installed side doors.

A security source told the newspaper that everything the army trained for before the war had no relation to the reality encountered by soldiers in the field.

Clashes continue between Palestinian resistance factions and the Israeli army in various parts of the Gaza Strip, despite the ongoing heavy bombardment for more than nine months.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with absolute American support, has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, resulting in over 129,000 Palestinian casualties, most of whom are children and women, and more than 10,000 missing persons.

Tel Aviv continues its war, ignoring the UN Security Council’s resolution to halt it immediately and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.