Flood the tunnels with sea water

Path of least resistance would have it flooding the first place it connected to in the tunnels and not much else. So if they are under a hospital, for example, the waters would flood out the lower levels of the hospital. There's also factoring in how you'd even do this in the first place and put that much water down the tunnels.
 
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.

The shortest and most direct route to the tunnel entrances would be directly from the Mediterranean. This would require kinetic clearing of the construction sites and holding them for the duration of the operation to protect the temporary water transmission lines. The distance that would need to be cleared and held could be minimized on the northernmost and eastern tunnels by running a trunk line through adjacent Israeli territory and feeding water distribution lines to the tunnel entrances off that.

Flooding doesn’t have to be slow. A six-by-five-foot tunnel that runs 300 miles is a huge volume to fill, but how fast it fills depends on how fast the water is pumped. Rough calculations indicate that if a single pipe were used for each of eleven tunnels, with each pipe pumping at a very conservative 100 gallons per minute, it would take about seven and a half months for all eleven tunnel networks to fill. Pumping water at ten times that rate, however, is routinely done today everywhere from wastewater treatment plants to oil field operations. Also, the tunnels wouldn’t have to be filled to capacity to generate the desired effect. The effect would begin as soon as water started to flow; by the time a tunnel has two or three feet of water it would be effectively unusable.

The collateral damage to infrastructure should be minimal. The distances are short, the diameter of the required pipe is small, and the pipelines would run very close to the surface. As with the Egyptian tunnel operations, the impact of flooding on groundwater salinization would no doubt be raised. The extent of saltwater leakage through the tunnels into local groundwater would depend on the depth and construction of the tunnels and the configuration of the local aquifer. Gaza’s shallow aquifer is already over-depleted, however, and ninety-five percent of its groundwater was considered unfit for public consumption as far back as 2017. The reason is that it’s extensively contaminated with chemicals and sewage, as well as saltwater intrusion from the Mediterranean due to a long history of over pumping.



https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2023/11/01/flood_the_gaza_tunnels_989879.html
 
In the short term, think of flooding Gaza’s tunnels as humanitarian assistance. By eliminating the need to keep bombing them, flooding would reduce civilian casualties and other collateral damage. In the long term, think of denying Hamas access to the tunnels as an A2AD stratagem. At the end of the war, there can be no complete destruction of Hamas, nor long-term peace out of Gaza, unless and until the Gaza tunnels are taken out.



https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2023/11/01/flood_the_gaza_tunnels_989879.html
 
volsrock said:
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.

The shortest and most direct route to the tunnel entrances would be directly from the Mediterranean. This would require kinetic clearing of the construction sites and holding them for the duration of the operation to protect the temporary water transmission lines. The distance that would need to be cleared and held could be minimized on the northernmost and eastern tunnels by running a trunk line through adjacent Israeli territory and feeding water distribution lines to the tunnel entrances off that.

Flooding doesn’t have to be slow. A six-by-five-foot tunnel that runs 300 miles is a huge volume to fill, but how fast it fills depends on how fast the water is pumped. Rough calculations indicate that if a single pipe were used for each of eleven tunnels, with each pipe pumping at a very conservative 100 gallons per minute, it would take about seven and a half months for all eleven tunnel networks to fill. Pumping water at ten times that rate, however, is routinely done today everywhere from wastewater treatment plants to oil field operations. Also, the tunnels wouldn’t have to be filled to capacity to generate the desired effect. The effect would begin as soon as water started to flow; by the time a tunnel has two or three feet of water it would be effectively unusable.

The collateral damage to infrastructure should be minimal. The distances are short, the diameter of the required pipe is small, and the pipelines would run very close to the surface. As with the Egyptian tunnel operations, the impact of flooding on groundwater salinization would no doubt be raised. The extent of saltwater leakage through the tunnels into local groundwater would depend on the depth and construction of the tunnels and the configuration of the local aquifer. Gaza’s shallow aquifer is already over-depleted, however, and ninety-five percent of its groundwater was considered unfit for public consumption as far back as 2017. The reason is that it’s extensively contaminated with chemicals and sewage, as well as saltwater intrusion from the Mediterranean due to a long history of over pumping.



https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2023/11/01/flood_the_gaza_tunnels_989879.html
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it might be easier just to use explosives to turn Gaza into a harbor basin for yachts.......they could lease docks to wealthy Muslims......
 
Jade Dragon said:
Path of least resistance would have it flooding the first place it connected to in the tunnels and not much else. So if they are under a hospital, for example, the waters would flood out the lower levels of the hospital. There's also factoring in how you'd even do this in the first place and put that much water down the tunnels.
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And drowning the hostages would not be a good look.
 
Jade Dragon said:
Path of least resistance would have it flooding the first place it connected to in the tunnels and not much else. So if they are under a hospital, for example, the waters would flood out the lower levels of the hospital. There's also factoring in how you'd even do this in the first place and put that much water down the tunnels.
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A pumper truck or 2; Derp!
 
Jade Dragon said:
Path of least resistance would have it flooding the first place it connected to in the tunnels and not much else. So if they are under a hospital, for example, the waters would flood out the lower levels of the hospital. There's also factoring in how you'd even do this in the first place and put that much water down the tunnels.
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Only the basement would flood. Pump it in over days.
 
volsrock said:
Wont have to fire one shot or drop one bomb to clear them!
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Israel would have to find the entrances, capture the ground around the entrances, and then capture the ground from the entrances to the sea. They would have to hold all that ground for long enough to build a pipe. They would have to protect that pipe from attack.

Everywhere in Gaza is a few miles from the sea, but a few miles is a long distance when you are losing soldiers every foot of those miles. Not only would Israel lose soldiers, it would kill Palestinian civilians, and every Palestinian civilian killed comes back to haunt Israel when his relatives attack Israel.

There are a lot of different tunnels, so it would be hundreds or even thousands of miles of pipes.

volsrock said:
The engineering is straightforward. Egypt flooded thirty-seven cross-border tunnels in southern Gaza
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Egypt already controlled the entrance to the tunnel, and controlled the land between the tunnel and the sea. They flooded tunnels which were on their side of the border. Israel would be flooding tunnels deep in Gaza.
 
floridafan said:
The hostages are in the tunnels, so lets kill them also!
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Announce that anyone that comes out with a live hostage will not be killed but if the hostages dies everyone of them dies. Also spread the rumor that anyone the IDF kills will be buried face down in the dirt with a pig facing away from Mecca.
 
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Walt said:
Israel would have to find the entrances, capture the ground around the entrances, and then capture the ground from the entrances to the sea. They would have to hold all that ground for long enough to build a pipe. They would have to protect that pipe from attack.

Everywhere in Gaza is a few miles from the sea, but a few miles is a long distance when you are losing soldiers every foot of those miles. Not only would Israel lose soldiers, it would kill Palestinian civilians, and every Palestinian civilian killed comes back to haunt Israel when his relatives attack Israel.

There are a lot of different tunnels, so it would be hundreds or even thousands of miles of pipes.



Egypt already controlled the entrance to the tunnel, and controlled the land between the tunnel and the sea. They flooded tunnels which were on their side of the border. Israel would be flooding tunnels deep in Gaza.
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The tunnels are connected so flooding them would force Hamas to the surface and deny them the use of their tunnel system.
 
Cheap linear explosives would be more effective. Collapsing tunnels means they are forever unusable unless rebuilt at great effort and expense, while flooded ones can be easily pumped out...
 
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