“I discovered from what Egypt did. ” How did Hamas thwart Israel’s efforts to flood the tunnels?

An investigation by the newspaper revealedHaaretzThe “Atlantis” system to flood tunnels failed miserably and is now not used, because the Hamas motion, designated as a terrorist group in america, ready for this risk and created drains to take water into the tunnels, after studying from the Egyptians. efforts to flood the Rafah border tunnels years in the past.

In its report titled “Atlantis is Misplaced,” the newspaper defined that the Israeli military’s mission to flood Hamas’ tunnel community beneath Gaza failed as a result of Israel adopted an previous, insufficient plan, and continued ignoring skilled recommendation and the potential hazard to kidnappers. .

The newspaper identified that this plan, devised by the Israeli military, ended quietly after just a few months, in an anticipated army failure that nobody stopped till it was too late, and one puzzled if he had achieved something in any respect.

The investigation discovered that a lot of errors occurred in the best way the Israeli military handled the Atlantis system, which offered a sign of the anticipated failure. The newspaper primarily based its investigation on conversations with a sequence of various sources, who had been intently concerned within the growth and operation of the system, in addition to paperwork and minutes from closed discussions, during which senior officers and half professionals.

She stated, for instance, that it was clear that the system started to work even earlier than the mandatory feedback requested by the military got, and that lots of stress was put behind the accelerated operation to excessive, that’s, by the commander of the Southern Command, Main Common Yaron Finkelman, and that it was carried out whereas it may very well be at risk of the Israeli hostages who had been alive once they had been taken hostage to the Strip.

An Israeli military supply concerned within the Atlantis mission instructed the newspaper, “The system was activated in no less than one central Hamas tunnel that was clearly utilized by the motion at varied ranges of the warfare. It is rather doubtless that there have been hosts. function a human defend.”

The failure of the Atlantis mission regardless of the Israeli military’s wager on it, based on what a army supply instructed Haaretz, is as a result of “many of the Hamas forces, particularly the army arm, entered the tunnels on the that point, and this has put stress on the senior commanders of the Israeli military.”

For that reason, one other supply who spoke to Haaretz says, “Finkelman requested for options and methods to beat Hamas militants within the tunnels in addition they started to grasp the scale of the tunnels, which the military didn’t find out about one thing.”

At the moment, the Israeli military was nonetheless studying in regards to the tunnels it encountered within the Road and the vary of a whole bunch of kilometers they’d. The supply defined to the newspaper, “The military discovered itself on the bottom, realizing that Hamas was underground and had no resolution to get out of there.

However as well as, some members of the Southern Command inform the newspaper that the bottom forces in these days didn’t have an answer of their arsenal for the tunnel drawback, so the military needed an concept create any. An officer from the bottom forces offered such an concept, which includes flooding the tunnels with sea water, utilizing pumps and pipes put in by the Israel Protection Forces within the Strip.

In keeping with the newspaper, it was an replace of a contingency plan proposed within the floor forces years earlier than Finkelstein took workplace. At the moment the purpose was to take care of one other kind of tunnel. The probabilities of him succeeding in coping with the tunnels found by the Israeli military within the Gaza Strip on October 7 had been low. However based on protection sources who spoke to Haaretz, Winkelmann gave the inexperienced mild to take the previous plan and adapt it to the brand new state of affairs.

The newspaper defined that after the plan obtained the mandatory permits, since any such operation requires approval from the Chief of Workers, the Army Prosecutor, and others, the Israeli military turned to the Israel Water Authority for assist. The authority moved shortly for the mission and established two teams of civilian specialists in a number of fields. One group was assigned to pump water into the tunnels, whereas the second group was requested to analyze the difficulty of water loss by means of the tunnel partitions. Each teams began working.

However Haaretz stated that the Israeli military didn’t look forward to the outcomes, and at this level the following section started. One of many commanders who participated within the mission instructed the newspaper, “Inside a month and a half, the Israeli military neutralized a whole sector and the mission had no operational functionality.”

He stated: “The Israeli military had no method of understanding whether or not the system was working, what occurred within the tunnels, what the situation of the militants was inside and whether or not hostages had been injured in consequence. the water so far it’s not clear what injury has occurred within the tunnels.” “The tunnels have no idea, if any.

Actually, at the moment, specialists instructed the newspaper, the Israeli military didn’t have the mandatory data and information in regards to the tunnels, and it was definitely pure that it didn’t flood in a method that will hurt it. inside or pushed to flee. the floor.

However there are different particulars that had been found later, for instance, the gap between the tunnels, proven above, might be deceptive, as a result of the doorway to the tunnels stretched, which reaches a size of tens of meters. After all, the tunnel itself is far shorter, so injury to slim tunnels will solely end in restricted efficiency. One other element that can not be seen from above is the passageways between the tunnels, which don’t have any exit openings.

One of many knowledgeable sources instructed the newspaper: “In one of many conversations, somebody requested how Hamas handled rainwater within the tunnels over these years, and the way they weren’t flooded with water.”

The reply got here after specialists carried out investigations, in addition to questioning Hamas members, the supply defined, saying: “It turned out that they constructed the tunnels on ranges, slopes, and that they outfitted with assortment tanks for wet days and explosion-proof. doorways.

However the newspaper defined that whereas the researchers had been doing their work, studying what had modified within the area and contemplating the potential for flooding, the Israeli military didn’t wait till they did motion, they usually began utilizing and implementing the brand new infrastructure earlier than they obtained the feedback and choices. of the analysis groups. 5 pumps had been positioned on the coast they usually began pumping water and sending it to the community of pipes, and from there to a number of tunnels, which made the Water Authority react angrily.

The newspaper stated that based on a doc issued by specialists about three weeks after the beginning of the Atlantis operation, the tunnels weren’t carried out based on the suggestions. The pumping was not carried out in accordance with the fight principle developed, the outcomes weren’t collected and they didn’t take the measurements described within the discipline and the accompanying unit on the identical hand and the specialists designed the opposite method round.”

Due to this fact, specialists concluded that the Israeli military started to flood the tunnels with out having gear to judge the ensuing operational efficiency. They summed up the difficulty by saying: “After all, we do not understand how profitable the operation was,” based on the newspaper.

What’s written within the paper could also be an understatement, since Haaretz discovered that from the primary makes an attempt to take care of the issue, specialists have questioned the potential for flooding tunnels in a method which might make it tough for Hamas activists to reside in them, and make them drown.

Due to this fact, the newspaper stated that specialists concluded that it could be extraordinarily tough, if not unimaginable, to flood tunnels or create insufferable situations for these inside. However others identified that after they elected Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as president, the Egyptians stuffed the Hamas tunnels with sewage, encouraging the motion to take care of the opposition at the moment. The supply instructed the newspaper: “However no one was all in favour of it. It was not doable to talk logically.

However as a military supply concerned within the particulars of the plan defined, “Finkelmann needed to enter the tunnels and work in them as shortly as doable within the discipline.”