Palestinian factions condemn Egypt flooding Gaza borders

A number of Palestinian factions have condemned Egypt’s flooding of Gaza’s borders with sea water, Arabi21 reported.

In a joint statement, Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian Democratic Front, the Palestinian Popular Front, Al-Mujahideen Movement, Al-Ahrar Movement and the Popular Committee said: “The fact that Egypt has flooded the Palestinian-Egyptian borders with sea water is shocking.”

“This measure destroys vast areas of agricultural land, pollutes underground water reserves, harms the houses of Palestinian residents in the nearby areas and kills all signs of life there,” the statement added.

The factions called on the people of Egypt to “stop this crime against the Palestinians and their land,” stressing that they have been looking for a “supportive Egyptian stance” on the Palestinians.

On 11 September, the Egyptian army started flooding the Palestinian-Egyptian borders with massive amounts of sea water in an attempt to destroy smuggling tunnels; once the main lifeline of Gaza in the light of the strict internationally-backed Israeli siege.

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas said in a separate statement that it had been conducting official talks with the Egyptian authorities in order to stop water flooding the borders.

Residents told Anadolu that the sea water pumped by the Egyptian army covered a large number of tunnels and caused partial collapses in many others.

The Palestinian Water Authority warned that this could cause collapses of the soil layers and would also pollute underground water reserves.

Egypt has been working on a two kilometre buffer zone along the Palestinian-Egyptian border on the pretext of “fighting terrorism”, while on the ground it is has been making the siege on Gaza stricter and stricter.