Israel’s army plans to pump water into Gaza’s tunnel system – to access Hamas.
Now several experts warn that such a strategy could have disastrous consequences for civilians.
– It would destroy the living conditions of everyone in Gaza, says the professor Mark Zeitun to The Guardian.
At the beginning of the month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Israeli military, the IDF, plans to pump water from the Mediterranean Sea into the terrorist group Hamas’ advanced tunnel system in Gaza.
The paper, which has US intelligence sources with good insight into Israeli military operations, reports that the aim is to destroy underground infrastructure to gain access to Hamas.
The expert: Could be genocide
According to media reports and satellite images, the IDF has placed pumping systems near the al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza. Several environmental experts have warned that such an operation risks causing an ecological disaster that risks leaving Gaza without potable water.
The Guardian has spoken to David Boyd, who is an investigator and expert in human rights and the environment at the UN. He warns that the strategy, which has not yet been officially commented on by the IDF, would have disastrous consequences.
Professor Mark Zeitun at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, who has also been a water engineer in Palestine, tells the newspaper that large amounts of water under Gaza would destroy the water supply and water quality in the area.
– It would destroy the living conditions for everyone in Gaza. I say living conditions because I think that is one of the elements of genocide within the UN Convention, he says.
Even Will Zwijnenberg, a researcher at the organization Pax for Peace that investigates the environmental impact of war, is worried. He states that there is a risk that any underground fuel stocks will be destroyed – which risks involving dangerous substances in the groundwater.