The Israeli army admitted for the first time that it "destroyed some tunnels of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza by flooding them with water." The Israeli occupation army officially announced the pumping of water into the tunnels in the Gaza Strip, as part of its efforts to neutralize the network of Al-Qassam Brigade tunnels.
The Israeli army stated, "During the war, the Israeli army used new capabilities to neutralize the terrorists' infrastructure located underground in the Gaza Strip by pumping vast amounts of water into the tunnels." Army spokesman Avichai Adraee noted, "Several units of the Defense Forces and the Ministry of Defense jointly developed several tools to pump water at a high rate into Hamas tunnels in the region, as part of the diverse array of tools available to the Defense Army to deal with tunnels."
He pointed out that "the capabilities include the installation of pumps and pipes, alongside the maturation of engineering capabilities, and activities to find suitable tunnel openings for the task. Prior to operating this capability, comprehensive professional administrative work was carried out, which involved analyzing the terrain features and the water system in the area, among other things, to ensure that the use of groundwater in the area is not affected. Water is only pumped in paths and locations that were found to be suitable for this purpose, with the appropriate method and operational technique chosen in each case."
He added, "The implementation of this project was made possible under its study and after efforts to build the accelerated force and training of the forces on integrating technological factors. This project is one tool within the collection of tools belonging to the Defense Army and security agencies that have been developed in recent years to deal with Hamas infrastructure in the underground domain of Gaza. This collection of tools includes airstrikes, underground maneuvering, and special operations with technical means."
According to the Israeli army, this tool represents a significant engineering and technological breakthrough in dealing with the challenge of underground infrastructure, developed in joint efforts by various security agencies.
