I’m curious about the mechanics of this (so to speak). I don’t imagine the tunnels have been constructed to be watrproof. I imagine the floors are generally permeable. And I imagine the soil in Gaza can suck up a hell of a lot of water. Under such conditions, can you flood the tunnels? I picture it like a child digging a hole at the beach, then getting a bucket of water from the ocean, and going back to “fill up the hole with water”. It’s just not going to ever fill up.
I think Israel knows what can be done, but I wonder if this talk is more propaganda than anything else.
“ I imagine the floors are generally permeable. And I imagine the soil in Gaza can suck up a hell of a lot of water.”
From what I’ve seen all that concrete the American taxpayers bought for these savages was used to build tunnels. Just run the pumps 24-7 and let nature do the rest. And the Mediterranean has plenty of water to do the job.
L
“I’m curious about the mechanics of this (so to speak). I don’t imagine the tunnels have been constructed to be watrproof. I imagine the floors are generally permeable. And I imagine the soil in Gaza can suck up a hell of a lot of water. Under such conditions, can you flood the tunnels? I picture it like a child digging a hole at the beach, then getting a bucket of water from the ocean, and going back to “fill up the hole with water”. It’s just not going to ever fill up.”
Check out the links. They’re solid concrete tunnels.
It will ruin any ground water for centuries.
i’ve seen many reports that the tunnels are constructed of concrete ... plus, they are very deep, so the subsoil layers might very well be quite impermeable ...
I predict that MANY buildings will sink into the ground——But HAMAS started ALL of this.
NOT a SHRED of SYMPATHY from me.
Gaza is underlain by sandstone and shale formations. There is also a layer of loess in the region which would presumably become very soggy when wet. They might not be able to fill the tunnels but they could make them at least an unusable sea of mud. I also presume the Israelis know the geology of the area and don’t need our help to figure it out.
I imagine the floors are generally permeable... I think Israel knows what can be done.
I wondered about the drainage rate as well. But since Israel administered the area for so long before this (failed) experiment in self rule, they should have extensive understanding of the soil hydrology, from decades of permitting and managing construction in the area.
I’d bet my bottom dollar that they had certified engineers evaluate the plan for flooding the tunnels, to incorporate that into Military Operational Plans, which need to be time synchronized.
Hamas tunnels have been flooded before, so the tactic has been tested.
Even if there are shortcomings, flooding will clearly neutralize some amount of the tunnel network, at no cost of IDF lives, and provide some degree of Operational disruption of Hamas. So it is an excellent economy of force measure.
Hopefully, it will be a major effect.