Skip to main content

Israel uses storm to locate Gaza tunnels

A new report indicates that Israeli intelligence took advantage of the recent storm that hit the Gaza Strip to locate Hamas-operated tunnels by tracking storm damage and sinkholes.
An entrance to a tunnel exposed by the Israeli military is seen near Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, just outside the southern Gaza Strip October 13, 2013. Israel displayed on Sunday what it called a Palestinian "terror tunnel" running into its territory from the Gaza Strip and said it was subsequently freezing the transfer of building material to the enclave. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTX149RZ
Read in 

When it hit Dec. 10, Gazans were not aware that Alexa, the storm that buffeted the Gaza Strip, would have military and security repercussions. Local media sources reported that the flooding caused by the storm has revealed the locations of tunnels used by the resistance. This time around, however, the tunnels were located not only on the border with Egypt but in other parts of the Gaza Strip as well. As a result, the Israeli intelligence service deployed its agents to spot their locations.

Following the end of the storm and amid the resulting humanitarian crisis, Palestinians found out something they had not expected. a report published by Al-Majd, a Palestinian security issues website, announced that the Israeli forces had deliberately opened the dams and drowned a large swath of the Gaza Strip — particularly the border areas — with the aim of locating and destroying the tunnels established by the resistance.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.