Israel has begun pumping seawater into Hamas’ tunnel complex in Gaza on Tuesday in a process that is likely to take weeks, it has been reported.
Despite warnings the seawater could endanger Gaza’s fresh water supply, Biden administration officials have said the process could help destroy tunnels, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Flushing out the tunnels could prove pivotal in rooting out hostages, as Hamas are believed to be hiding them there.
Israel’s military did not respond to the Wall Street Journal’s request for comment.
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A Russian diplomat previously warned Israel against such a move, claiming it would constitute a war crime.
"War crimes are snowballing — shocking reports have been circulated in recent days that Israel plans to flood underground facilities in the Gaza Strip with seawater," Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said during a United Nations Security Council meeting this week.
Smoke and fire are seen after Israeli shelling in the village of Dhayra, near the border with Israel, in southern LebanonReutersHe added: "According to open sources, the IDF has already built a system of pumps and pipes to pump seawater and is currently discussing with the United States practical aspects of such flooding: whether there will be enough water or if the tunnels’ ‘topography’ is fit for that and so on.
“Such a step, if made, will constitute a blatant war crime.”
Senior US officials were reportedly sceptical about how successful the plan would be ahead of its enactment, according to an insider.
"We are not sure how successful pumping will be, since nobody knows the details of the tunnels and the ground around them," the source said.
"It’s impossible to know if that will be effective, because we don’t know how seawater will drain in tunnels no one has been in before."
It comes after a Foreign Office minister warned safe zones to help bring humanitarian relief to people in southern Gaza are “extremely difficult but plausible”.
Andrew Mitchell maintained the UK Government believes a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict is “implausible” and there is “no possibility” of one taking place given both sides appear unwilling to agree to one.
But Mitchell, while pressing the need for further pauses in the fighting, said talks are ongoing about the prospect of creating safe areas to provide support whilst acknowledging the difficulties of guaranteeing the security of such areas.
Mitchell added there have been “no new developments” in the release of hostages, with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) conducting unarmed surveillance flights over the eastern Mediterranean, including operating in airspace over Israel and Gaza.
