Israel’s plan to flood Gaza tunnels with seawater, ‘war crime’: Russia

Russia has denounced as “shocking” reports of Israel’s plan to flood tunnels in the Gaza Strip with seawater, saying such a move would be a “war crime”.   

Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador, made the remarks in a statement on Saturday, following reports that Israel has already assembled a system of large pumps to flood with seawater underground facilities in Gaza that are used to transport essentials from neighboring Egypt into the besieged coastal territory. 

The Israeli regime claims the tunnels belong to the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas where its fights are hiding. 

"Such flooding could be considered analogous to 'do not spare them' order, but it is not only about that and not only about civilians who may be in those tunnels," the statement said.

"Of course, there most likely will be civilians, for where else would they go from the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza," it added.

The statement stressed that "If done, this will be a war crime."

The flooding tactic was first reported by The Wall Street Journal last week. According to media reports, Israel is discussing with the United States practical aspects of such flooding, which could also threaten the besieged enclave’s water supply.

The latest development came a day after the US vetoed a United Nations Security Council calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing aggression. The move drew widespread condemnation from across the world.

Polyanskiy also said that Moscow was extremely disappointed that the council had failed to adopt a binding decision to demand rather than call on the parties to stop the violence.

MG