A screengrab from a video released by the Israel Defense Force shows a Hamas tunnel shaft being … [+]
As fighting resumes with new intensity in Gaza, the IDF is finding and destroying Hamas tunnel shafts. But will it stick with this approach?
On Sunday, the Israel Defense Force revealed that it has located 800 Hamas tunnel shafts in Gaza thus far and has destroyed approximately 500 of them using “a variety” of operational methods from blocking them over to closing them with explosives.
According to an IDF release, “Some of the tunnel shafts connected Hamas’ strategic assets via the underground tunnel network. In addition, many miles of the tunnel routes have been destroyed.”
There are likely many more miles of tunnel routes to destroy, close or render useless. At the outset of the War the IDF and a number of other observers estimated that Hamas had put over 300 miles of tunnels in place below the Gaza Strip. Finding and neutralizing these underground pathways tunnel by tunnel whilst in the midst of urban combat is a time-consuming process.
The process is lengthened by the investigations IDF units carry out to gain intelligence from what they find and to document the location of tunnels in civilian structures (schools, mosques, hospitals, playgrounds) to underpin Israeli arguments about the terrorist organization’s use of Palestinian civilians as cover.
IDF soldiers surround a tunnel shaft holding what appear to be some sort of feed cables, possibly … [+]
The IDF posted a link to a video of Israeli troops in Gaza locating and destroying tunnel shafts in areas including inside a mosque located in the Bakshi neighborhood. The video shows troops sending lines or cables down into the tunnel shafts in different locations, possibly to gain remote views of the passages or to inject some sort of substance to close them.
Reuters reports that IDF engineers are using an exploding gel which can be poured into the shafts and may be what is seen in the video.
The footage also shows tunnel entrances being blasted shut in what look like courtyard or backyard areas with surrounding structures. Clearing these areas before blasting could be expected to add more time to the process of the denying Hamas access to its underground network.
Time is an issue for Israel which faces continued pressure to oust Hamas while sparing as many of the Palestinian civilians the terrorist organization is leveraging for protection and PR as possible. Hamas will dodge and fight IDF forces in Gaza as indirectly as it can, staying below ground to pop up at points of its choosing where it can strike with some degree of success.
As I wrote last week, Israel’s former ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, suggested that Hamas will not return the remaining hostages it holds for fear of Israel flooding its tunnel network.
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Israel is indeed weighing a plan to flood Gaza tunnels with seawater, forcing Hamas to the surface to face IDF troops in the streets. According to the Journal, Israel has assembled a system of large pumps a mile north of the Al-Shati refugee camp which is located near the beach along the northern Gaza Strip coastline.
A map of the Gaza Strip indicates the location (in red) the Al-Shati refugee camp on the northern … [+]
How effective flooding the tunnels from Al-Shati would be is questionable according to an unnamed source the Journal spoke with, citing unknowns about seawater drainage, tunnel permeability, and different tunnel depths. Concerns that such a flooding scheme may also contaminate Gaza’s groundwater reserves were also noted.
The aquifer basin from which Gazans draw water was already heavily polluted from pre-war sources according to a study cited by the Journal. The risk from further pollution driven by possible flooding of the tunnels is present including risk derived from hazardous materials Hamas has stored in them.
However, it’s obvious that filling tunnel shafts with explosive gel or explosives may cause its own pollution. Israel has likely thoroughly studied the prospects of success of a tunnel-flooding exploit and can estimate its tactical impact.
What goes unsaid is that such a calculus could include some estimation of the potential reduction in Palestinian casualties associated with forcing Hamas into the open and the probable shortening of the combat phase of the conflict.
Israel may find and destroy many, many more tunnel shafts as it moves south in the Gaza Strip. But there remains a serious question as to whether it has the luxury of time to locate and neutralize them while the clock is ticking on world opinion.
