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.
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The problem is the Kabbal uses the tunnels to keep hostages.
Read my post below. After pumping in the gas, clear GG the area and blow it all.
That’s kind of what I was thinking. Combine flooding with using high explosives, so that the water would transmit the shockwave of an explosion.
Or the hostages would be left to drown.
And your point is?
They will leave the hostages there and blame Israel for their deaths.
Natural gas is lighter than air.
The hostages have are not a bargaining chip, if dead.
Hamas would have to migrate them up.
Any chance of it collapsing all the foundations in Gaza into one big hole?
“...find an opening, lower in big speakers...”
I like this. How about playing Jewish and Christian music and sermons? Or, what about those strange sounds waves that damaged our diplomats down in Havana?
They could send little GPS floating Yellow Rubber Ducks in with the seawater. Then when the ducks gets to their underground warehouse/bunkers they will have the exact GPS location and depth to drop the bunker buster bomb.
Quack Quack
I agree.
Do it.
L
War is tough, the war crime if it mattered would be on Hamas. Time to solve this problem.
I don't think that will happen. Many of the tunnels go down so deep that foundations are not affected. Some can be hundreds of feet down.
I read that the IDF has been pumping colored smoke into tunnel openings, and watching for the colored smoke rising from buildings that have tunnel exits within. The IDF then calls in bomb strikes on those buildings which collapse the tunnels underneath. The IDF knows what they're doing.
NG is lighter than air. Propane is Heavier.
Which is why it is so dangerous when there is a leak in a commercial building.
I recall a story years ago about a propane tank leak at some warehouse overnight in Buffalo, NY. When the fire truck showed up it leveled the city block and blew the fire truck hundreds of feet away. Destroying the warehouse, the fire truck and killing the firemen.
Good point. But carbon monoxide is heavier than most air and odorless.
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Deep thoughts, by Jack Handey.
Ironic. Bin Laden’s father worked with Syria to cut off the water supply into Israel sending it into Syria.
I saw that same video yesterday on YouTube regarding the purple smoke they use. Pretty ingenious.
Make the deal and trade the 6,000 Palestinians for the hostages.
But use nanotechnology and insert chips in every prisoner so that they can be tracked— that will give up the entrances to the tunnel networks.
Then give Israel GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs to finish the job.
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