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Flood the Gaza Tunnels
realclearwire.com ^ | 11/1/2023 | jeff goodson

Posted on 11/01/2023 10:28:56 AM PDT by bitt

The biggest problem confronting Israel in its war on Hamas is how to destroy the Gaza tunnel networks and the terrorist operations therein. Bombing works—mostly—but there’s a better way. Not only would it dramatically reduce Israeli military and Gazan civilian casualties, but it would effectively destroy the tunnel systems for the long term. That solution is to flood the tunnels with seawater from the adjacent Mediterranean.

I worked on the Gaza Strip back in the 1990s. The U.S. government was pouring tens of millions of tax dollars into development assistance there on engineering infrastructure, housing, and related projects. Part of reviewing that work on the ground involved tramping over much of the small territory on foot.

Gaza consists of a strip of beach, back beach, and coastal plain that’s flat to slightly rolling. The territory stretches for about twenty-five miles along the eastern Mediterranean. At its widest, in the south, it’s about seven and a half miles wide; most of it is far narrower, about half of that.

The Gaza tunnel system, mostly constructed over the last forty years, provides Hamas with offensive access to Israel. It also constitutes the terrorist organization’s most formidable defensive redoubt. The tunnels present by far the most difficult logistical problem for Israel in eliminating enemy targets. Open-source maps show at least eleven independent tunnel networks, some nearly adjacent to the sea. The number of independent networks, however, could far exceed that. Hamas claims that the total length of the tunnels is about three hundred miles.

The geography of Gaza argues strongly for the stratagem of flooding the tunnels. It would force the enemy above ground where they can more easily be destroyed, dramatically reduce the Israeli casualties required to accomplish that task and resolve the problem of dealing with parts of the tunnels that are too deep to destroy through bombing. Most importantly, flooding is a permanent or near-permanent solution to the Gaza tunnel problem. Once accomplished, pumping them out enough to be usable again would be both extremely costly and—especially in conjunction with bombing—exceptionally difficult. The timing of executing a flooding strategy is flexible; some could be flooded now, others later, and still others once they’re discovered.

The engineering is straightforward. Egypt flooded thirty-seven cross-border tunnels in southern Gaza back in 2015 in what stands as a practical proof of concept in this location. Seawater from the Mediterranean would be pumped directly into the tunnel openings through short pipelines. While there’s little hydrological head, there is also little topographical relief to deal with in laying the pipe. Large volumes of water are pumped long distances every day, and Israeli water technology is world class.

more....


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gaza; gazatunnels; hamas; lox; war
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To: jerod

After this exercise is over, it will no longer be referred to as Gaza, I hope.


21 posted on 11/01/2023 10:42:19 AM PDT by TheConservator (Either the Deep State destroys America, or we destroy the Deep State!--President Donald Trump)
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To: central_va

On a serious note however, I believe the released hostages have stated they were held in the tunnels.
your point?

__________________________

Flood and drown the hostages?

hamas would love to send deceased hostages back across the border of Gaza who were drowned by Israelie forces. And the media would love to report it.


22 posted on 11/01/2023 10:43:16 AM PDT by patriot torch (..)
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To: bitt

The total idiocy of it all. Allowing a population with a hostile indoctrination system for its youth to operate inside the country’s borders.
Of course, I could be referring to the USA.


23 posted on 11/01/2023 10:43:40 AM PDT by Honest Nigerian
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To: patriot torch

War is hell. Isreal needs to take care of business. Consider them already dead.


24 posted on 11/01/2023 10:45:01 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: broken_clock
Filling the tunnels with raw sewage works for me.

I think that would be redundant...

25 posted on 11/01/2023 10:45:02 AM PDT by fhayek
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To: bitt

Might be easier to find an opening, lower in big speakers, and play either the baby-shark song, or that cars for kids commercial, over and over.


26 posted on 11/01/2023 10:46:04 AM PDT by fruser1
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To: bitt

I have been saying this for WEEKS. Flood them ALL and maybe they city will collapse from no longer having the support of the ground.


27 posted on 11/01/2023 10:47:19 AM PDT by Singermom
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To: bitt

“That solution is to flood the tunnels with seawater from the adjacent Mediterranean.”

Or build a pipeline from the major Israeli cities and flood the tunnels with raw sewage.


28 posted on 11/01/2023 10:48:49 AM PDT by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism. )
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To: JewishRighter

You have to assume ALL of the hostages are already dead and move forward on that assumption.

Flooding the tunnels seems like the least expensive, in terms of IDF casualties and financial cost. as well as being possibly the most simple and effective solutions.

It is unlikely that Hamas has these tunnels set up like a sub with water tight doors and separate air handling capabilities.

Likely that the tunnels are mostly all connected and the highest value positions are the deepest.


29 posted on 11/01/2023 10:49:28 AM PDT by uranium penguin
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To: bitt

“Egypt flooded thirty-seven cross-border tunnels in southern Gaza back in 2015”

I was not aware of this. So, just eight years ago Egypt did this to stop smuggling back and forth into and out of their country.
So a predominantly Arab country did this to the Palestinians?
How is it that I have never heard about this until now?


30 posted on 11/01/2023 10:50:40 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: CivilWarBrewing

No, but the IDF does. That’s the point.


31 posted on 11/01/2023 10:58:53 AM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
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To: woodbutcher1963

Flood the tunnels, use drones to place underwater explosives. Upon detonation the over pressure wave would cause numerous cave ins and damage to any remaining infrastructure.


32 posted on 11/01/2023 11:02:55 AM PDT by Fellow Traveler
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To: bitt

I always thought city sewage would work. And render then unusable and toxic for quite some time afterwards


33 posted on 11/01/2023 11:06:25 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: bitt

I love it!


34 posted on 11/01/2023 11:07:17 AM PDT by Midwesterner53
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To: DeplorablePaul

“Israel would have to write off the hostages first. “

We can pray that none are still alive.
The horrors they would be undergoing is beyond imagination.

Napalm, Gasoline, Natural Gas, in the tunnels would be good.
And everywhere else as well.
Kill everyone and everything that moves.
Asphalt the whole place.

Never Again Is Now.


35 posted on 11/01/2023 11:09:47 AM PDT by Macoozie (Handcuffs and Orange Jumpsuits)
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To: bitt
The Israelis are some of the most innovative problem solvers in the military world.

The Gaza tunnels have been a huge problem for 20 years.

Reasonably confidant that they have come up with some innovative solutions to deal with the tunnel problems without having to resort to going in and engaging in tunnel CQB which is suicide.

The tunnel strategy only works for Hamas as long as they have complete control of above ground in Gaza.

The Izzys are changing the rules of the game by taking control of the above ground areas of the tunnels.

Once Hamas has lost control of the surface and freedom to operate above ground, tunnels are very unpleasant and dangerous place to be.

It is also very dangerous and unpleasant to be in tunnels in the South of Gaza after the Israelis have control of the what is left of the tunnel systems in the North.

The media and the talking heads on TV have been trying to persuade the public that the Hamas tunnels are Israels biggest threat and Hamas’s biggest asset.

IMHO, the tunnels are going end up being Hamas’s biggest liability and probably their ultimate downfall.

One big advantage for the Israelis is the fact that the tunnels are an unambiguously military target and they can be deal with in relative secrecy and in a way that the media has no way of covering. They will destroy the tunnels in detail at their leisure once they have sufficient control of the surface.

The reality is that Israel is almost certainly going to in de facto control of Gaza for some length of time at the end of the operation in any settlement to ensure the complete de militarization of the Hamas/Iran built infrastructure, including the tunnels. p>

36 posted on 11/01/2023 11:10:42 AM PDT by rdcbn1
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To: bitt

Someone’s tipping a hat to Gears of War, in which the remaining military of the Coalition of Ordered Governments (the COG) flooded the Locust out of their endless tunnels after more than a decade of war and near-extinction of Humans.

That’s exactly where my brain went here.


37 posted on 11/01/2023 11:12:35 AM PDT by Tacrolimus1mg (Do no harm, but take no sh!t.)
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To: woodbutcher1963
Here's an old article from 2019 about Egypt doing it again in 2018. I say again because I think they've done it many years.

https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/egypt-destroys-37-tunnels-which-infiltrated-from-gaza-in-2018-576410.

38 posted on 11/01/2023 11:12:53 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: PGR88
The Egyptians used this strategy on the tunnels from Gaza into the Sinai

It worked

39 posted on 11/01/2023 11:12:58 AM PDT by rdcbn1
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To: bitt

Pump in natural gas or propane. Both are heavier than air. No one could fire a weapon or use any incendiary device due to the extremely explosive nature of natural gas. Due to the ethyl mercaptan, the evil ones would know what is happening and HAVE to evacuate without firing a shot.


40 posted on 11/01/2023 11:13:22 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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