Flooding tunnels makes security more difficult, warns Hamas

The Palestinian ministry of the interior in the Gaza Strip warned on Thursday that it is becoming more difficult for it to maintain security along the border because of the Egyptian authorities flooding the tunnels in the zone, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency has reported.

The ministry is run by the de facto government in Gaza led by Hamas. Spokesman Iyad Al-Buzm told a press conference in the territory that the Palestinian security forces face significant difficulties in the movement of their patrols along the border, because of subsidence caused by the flooding.

The Egyptian army began pumping large quantities of seawater along the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip last month. The tunnels being destroyed have been described as a “lifeline” for the besieged Palestinians in the coastal enclave. Al-Buzm called on the Egyptians to halt their operations, which are aggravating the miserable living conditions of the Palestinians and contributing to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

The ministry has sent several messages to the Egyptian government, the Secretary General of the Arab League and the UN Secretary General, explained the Hamas spokesman, as well as other human rights and international organisations to set-out the dangers of this “disastrous project”.

When the Egyptians flooded several tunnels near Zaarbeh neighbourhood, west of the Palestinian town of Rafah, on Thursday, there were a number of places where subsidence occurred. The Rafah municipality warned that the flooding operations have caused subsidence near residential areas in the city which could reach the Tal Al-Sultan cemetery.