Flooding Hamas tunnels with seawater risks ‘ruining basic life in Gaza’, says expert

The Guardian ^

[Eleutheria5]

A potential plan by Israel to flood the Hamas tunnel network with seawater risks “ruining the basic conditions for life in Gaza”, one of the elements of the crime of genocide, a senior hydrologist has told the Guardian.

Environmental experts have warned the strategy – which Israel has yet to commit to – risks causing an ecological catastrophe that will leave Gaza with no drinkable water and devastate what little agriculture is possible in the 141 sq mile territory.

The UN special rapporteur for the right to water, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, compared it to the legend of Romans’ salting of the fields of Carthage to render uninhabitable the territory of their ancient rival. The rapporteur for human rights and the environment, David Boyd, said damaging Gaza’s sole water supply would be “catastrophic” for the environment and human rights.

.....

The environmental consequences could be far-reaching. According to a study from the US military academy West Point, there were 1,300 tunnels stretching over 310 miles (500km) in Gaza at the start of the war in October. It has been estimated it would take 1.5m cubic metres of water to completely fill them.

Mark Zeitoun, director of the Geneva Water Hub and professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute, said seawater pumped into the hundreds of kilometres of tunnels crisscrossing the porous, sandy soil of Gaza would inevitably seep into the aquifer that its 2.3 million residents rely on for about 85% of their water.

Zeitoun, who has worked as a water engineer for the UN in the occupied Palestinian territories, said the aquifer was already badly contaminated from wastewater and from seawater infiltration caused by years of overabstraction.

.....

[Bonemaker]

Hydraulic cement.

[Former Fetus]

I wish I could be the one to turn the pumps on! It would make my day!

[Bonemaker]

Just like American democrat scum, the Gaza scum voted for it.

[Bonemaker]

Dirty shame..Gaza was a paradise before.

[BradyLS]

Just mix it in with the seawater. A little goes a long way!

[LeoWindhorse]

” From the river to the sea!” they are always chanting . Well, here you go; have some > sea<

The river is not worth wasting on you creatures

[cyclotic]

Wow, that was written almost as if we should care.

[LeoWindhorse]

The Gazan fools should have thought about this when they let the Hamas rodents burrow all over under their homes.
Now they will pay the cost for their evil arrogance and hatred . Doesn’t bother me a bit.

[Glad2bnuts]

Let them do whatever they want. I don’t support Israel, or Hamas. Let them kill each other, it is simply not my business, or that of the US.

[FLT-bird]

All the more reason to do it then.

Full speed ahead.

[5th MEB]

So Zeitoun worked as an engineer for the UN in Gaza, I wonder how many TERRORIST TUNNELS he helped them to build!

[verum ago]

I guess flooding the tunnels with pigs blood is out of the question?

You got me wondering: would that even be possible?

Most sources online seem to agree that about 60 mL blood / kg body weight applies to pigs/hogs. I found a source saying there are approximately 784 million pigs alive on earth at any given time. The article suggests that the tunnels would require 1.5 million cubic meters of volume to fill (assuming no loss/seepage into the surrounding earth).

Given those numbers, for the entire pig population of earth to provide enough blood to fill Gaza's tunnels, they'd have to have an average body weight of ~32 kg / 71 lbs to provide enough blood to fill the tunnels.

Seems doable / a reasonable average weight per pig.

I'd be happy to do my part and eat some bacon to help the Israelis extract pig's blood for filling the tunnels...

[Thapsus_epiphany]

You’re absolutely correct. “Murder” is an understatement.
October 7th was the most barbaric atrocity since the Einsatzgruppen SS squads in Eastern Europe in the early 1940s.
The suggestion that the IDF should halt its operations in Gaza is ludicrous.
If something like this happened in the US there would be no stopping the effort to bring the animals to justice.
Compare our actions after 9 / 11.
We invaded countries, overthrew governments, and tens of thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands of people died, innocent and guilty alike.
Mercy cannot rob justice.

[verum ago]

1.5 million cubic meters of seawater to fill in the tunnels?

Great! Let the Greens fund the Israeli effort- by removing water from the ocean they're helping mitigate global warming driven sea level rise, right?

[Vendome]

Flooding Hamas tunnels with seawater risks ‘ruining basic life in Gaza’

And this a problem how?

[Cornfed21]

FAFO

[roadcat]

“ruining the basic conditions for life in Gaza”
That’s kinda’ the point.

We have a bunch of eco-nuts here on the US west coast, who want tax-dollars to restore wetlands all along the coast, and forbid home building.

So... Israel should restore the wetlands and sandy conditions in Gaza and do the world a favor by ridding it of pests. It was sandy and rocky terrain before the Jews altered it to fertile farmland, but the pests destroyed much of it when the Jews left after 2005.

[logi_cal869]

Then end basic life in gaza already.

[dfwgator]

Gee, maybe they shouldn’t have built the tunnels in the first place.

[ridesthemiles]

ASK ANY OF US IF WE GAS.