ISRAEL’S FLOODING GAZA TUNNELS WITH SALTWATER COULD HAVE ‘SEVERE ADVERSE HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACTS’: UN

File photo. A Palestinian fighter of Al-Quds brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), takes position in a military tunnel near the rally marking the first anniversary of the May 2021 conflict between Israel and Gaza, in Beit Hanun, northern Gaza Strip, 18 May 2022. [EPA-EFE/MOHAMMED SABER]

Fri 15 December 2023:

The UN Human Rights Office warned Thursday about Israel’s flooding Gaza tunnels with saltwater and said it could lead to “severe” effects.

“Israel’s flooding of tunnels with saltwater could have severe adverse human rights impacts, some long term,” it wrote on X.

“Goods indispensable to civilian survival could also be at risk, as well as widespread, long-term and severe environmental damage,” it warned. “Civilians must be protected.”

‘Each tunnel poses a significant threat’

If Israelis were to enter the tunnel network in Gaza, it would usher in a new phase in the war, significantly levelling the playing field between the opponents, according to Philip Ingram, MBE, a former British military intelligence officer.

Above ground, Israel has waged a relentless aereal bombardment and ground invasion of the 365sq km (141sq mile) enclave, using its superiority in arms.

Underground, Hamas would be able to rely on a sophisticated network of tunnels that would channel Israeli soldiers on foot into a single file.

The challenges for the Israelis would be “enormous” due to a lack of sufficient information on where the tunnels are, how far they stretch and what potential boobytraps were laid out by Hamas in preparation, Ingram said.

From a military point of view, the Israelis would want to “avoid actually having to fight in the tunnel”, he added.

Given Hamas’s expertise in setting booby traps and ambushes, “each tunnel poses a significant threat” to Israeli troops, Elijah Magnier, a military analyst who has covered the Middle East for more than 30 years, believes.

The “Palestinian resistance appears to have a strategic advantage” when it comes to tunnel warfare he said, referencing the high numbers of Israeli soldiers who die or are injured when searching for entrances to the tunnel network.

The Israel military boasts the Weasels (Samur), a specialised tunnel-warfare unit amongst its ranks, Ingram said, explaining that the specialised troops will have “all the gadgets” and trained dogs to help navigate the tunnels.

Still, no matter how much they will have practised, he says, the reality of what is down there remains largely unknown, making it very risky.

Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip from the air and land, imposed a siege and mounted a ground offensive in retaliation for a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 18,787 Palestinians have since been killed and 50,897 injured in the Israeli onslaught, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stands at 1,200, while 135 hostages are still held by the Palestinian group in Gaza, according to official figures.

-Input with Anadolu Agency

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