Israel sets up water pumps that could flood Hamas tunnels with seawater

Israel has finished putting together a network of water pumps that it could use to flood Hamas's underground tunnels.

The pumps, of which there are at least five, would draw water from the Mediterranean Sea and move thousands of cubic meters of water an hour into the tunnels in Gaza.

The Israeli Defense Forces finished building the pump system last month, US officials told the Wall Street Journal.

Use of the pumps, however, could prove to be an environmental catastrophe for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Already, nearly 16,000 Palestinians have died at the hands of Israelis in response to the deadly October 7 attacks.

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Israel has claimed that Hamas operates an extensive web of passageways that it uses to move troops and ammunition.

Rumors that Israel is considering flooding Hamas' tunnels has been circulting for weeks.

Now, US officials are warning that Israel has finished building the system about a mile north of the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Israel hasn't signaled whether it will inundate the tunnels or not, simply telling the Journal that it is working to dismantle Hamas "using different military and technological tools."

The floods could prove an environmental disaster for Gaza, where the United Nations estimates 80 percent of the population is already internally displaced.

Gaza's aquifer is already getting saltier as sea levels rise. Pumping seawater into the tunnels could seep into the source of Gaza's drinking water, which is alrady low as Israel has cut off most access to water in the region.

"It's hard to tell what pumping seawater will do to the existing water and sewage infrastructure," said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It is hard to tell what it will do to groundwater reserves. And it's hard to tell the impact on the stability of nearby buildings."