(CNN) – Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said that the movement built its tunnels to “resist possible attempts to pump water into them.”
Hamdan added, during a press conference in Beirut, on Thursday, in response to reports of the possibility of Israeli forces flooding the tunnels inside Gaza: “The tunnels were built by well-trained and educated engineers, and they took into account all possible attacks, including pumping water.”
He continued: “Tunnels are an integral part of the resistance, and all possible attacks have been taken into account.”
Israel had informed the United States that it had begun “meticulous tests” to flood some of the tunnels with seawater “on a limited scale” to evaluate whether it was possible to expand the scope of the operation to destroy the tunnel network on a larger scale.
Israeli officials assured their American counterparts that they only do this in tunnels where they do not believe hostages are being held.
Separately, Hamdan addressed the issue of the possibility of holding new talks aimed at releasing more hostages held inside Gaza, and said: “There will be no negotiations and no return of the prisoners until after the complete cessation of the aggression against Gaza and the response to the demands of the resistance.”
There are still more than 130 hostages being held inside the Gaza Strip.
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2023-12-15 02:12:06
