UNITED NATIONS, December 8. /TASS/. It would be a war crime for Israel to flood the tunnels in Gaza, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said.

"War crimes are snowballing - shocking reports have been circulated in recent days that Israel plans to flood underground facilities in the Gaza Strip with seawater. According to open sources, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces - TASS) has already built a system of pumps and pipes to pump seawater and is currently discussing with the United States practical aspects of such flooding: whether there will be enough water or if the tunnels’ ‘topography’ is fit for that and so on. Such a step, if made, will constitute a blatant war crime," he said at a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East.

"Hailing this ‘brilliant tactical solution,’ the Western-biased mass media don’t even try to think about the potential consequences of pumping thousands of cubic meters of seawater, i.e. salt water, into soil. Obviously, it is a real plan of action to undermine the enclave’s fragile agricultural capacities, because seawater will inevitably contaminate Gaza’s subsoil waters," the Russian diplomat said, adding that since the beginning of the current escalation, Israel has been hampering normal supplies of drinking water to the enclave.

The Wall Street Journal  reported earlier that Israel was looking at flooding the system of underground tunnels with seawater, as it claims that Hamas militants are hiding in these tunnels. This step would create an environmental catastrophe and further deteriorate the situation with fresh water in the enclave.