Hamas calls on Egypt to stop flooding Gaza tunnels

The Islamic Hamas movement on Sunday called on Egypt to stop pumping salty water along the Gaza Strip's border which would flood the tunnels that residents have used to smuggle in essentials.

Hamas opposed the Egyptian project of digging pools along the Gaza Strip border with Egypt and filling them with salty water, said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.

"The move represents a major threat to groundwater and a large number of houses on the Palestinian side of the borders," said Abu Zuhri, adding that Hamas was contacting Cairo to stop the move.

According to Xinhua, the Egyptian army has since Friday morning started pumping large amount of seawater from the Mediterranean Sea through large pipes that have recently been extended across the border connecting Gaza and Egypt.

Filling the holes and pools with seawater aims to destroy dozens of tunnels that have been in use since 2008 to smuggle food, medicine and construction materials from Egypt to Gaza.

Eyewitnesses said the Egyptian army lined up pipes into the ditches to pump seawater in the tunnels at Rafah borderline on Friday.

Abu Zuhri accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of advising Egypt to carry out the measure, which is a "further evidence of the role of Mahmoud Abbas in the Gaza blockade".