The Flooding of the Tunnels Has Begun

The Wall Street Journal reports this afternoon that the Israel Defense Forces have begun the process of flooding Hamas’s tunnel network beneath the Gaza Strip with seawater:

The move to flood the tunnels with water from the Mediterranean, which is in an early stage, is just one of several techniques Israel is using to try to clear the tunnels and destroy them.

A spokesperson for the Israeli defense minister declined to comment, saying the tunnel operations are classified.

Israeli officials say that Hamas’s vast underground system has been key to its operations on the battlefield. The tunnel system, they say, is used by Hamas to maneuver fighters across the battlefield and store the group’s rockets and munitions, and enables the group’s leaders to command and control their forces.

There is no such thing in war as a tactic that entails no risk, and there are plenty of risks associated with this effort to clear the dense, complex, and deadly rabbit warrens in which Hamas takes refuge. We know those risks because the U.S. sources with whom WSJ reporters spoke emphasized them over the rewards associated with this approach to clearing the tunnels.

American officials questioned the “utility of using seawater” to clear the 300-mile “labyrinth” because the network’s blast-proof doors may limit the efficacy of the approach. “Some Biden administration officials have been concerned that using seawater might not be effective and could endanger Gaza’s freshwater supply,” the Journal added.

International humanitarian organizations have voiced similar skepticism. They note that the flooding operation could imperil the hostages who remain in Hamas’s custody and are likely being held underground. Rogue states like Russia, which has cast its lot with Hamas, warned Israel that the IDF’s operation “will constitute a blatant war crime.” And Hamas itself fretted that the IDF would free dangerous chemicals, which would seep into the soil “and threaten to make the Strip unviable.”

Many of Israel’s detractors imply without saying as much that the IDF should pursue a much more dangerous alternative to neutralizing the threat posed by Hamas’s tunnel network. The IDF should rely more on robots, dogs, drones, and, of course, exposed infantry to clear the tunnel network room by room, thereby imperiling even more Israeli lives but keeping Western consciences clean.

There is, however, another alternative that too often goes unmentioned. Hamas could surrender unconditionally to IDF forces and hand over the hostages it seized during the 10/7 massacre, thereby sparing its fighters from their watery graves and mitigating the environmental risks associated with the IDF’s strategy of last resort.

Why that infinitely preferable alternative is left unsaid is speculation best left to psychologists. In the meantime, Israel continues to wrap up its campaign against Hamas with all possible alacrity — something that so many of Israel’s reluctant supporters have insisted was an absolute imperative. You would think they’d be happier about it.