ISRAEL RELEASES FIRST PICTURES OF UNDERWATER BARRIER WITH GAZA
200m barrier is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
BY ANNA AHRONHEIM
AUGUST 5, 2018 17:31
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A before (R) and after (L) of the sea barrier built by Israel, released August 5, 2018. (photo credit: DEFENSE MINISTRY)
Two months into construction of Israel's underwater barrier, the Ministry of Defense has released the first pictures of the project meant to stave off Hamas infiltration by sea.
The 50m wide and 6m high barrier is expected to be completed by the end of the year and will stretch 200m from the southern Israeli community of Zikim into Mediterranean
The barrier is made up of three layers including one below the sea level, a layer of armored stone and a third layer of barbed wire on top. In addition to the three layers, a fence will surround the breakwater in order to provide a final security measure.
"The construction of the barrier around the Gaza Strip, both on land at sea, is progressing at a rapid and impressive pace, and everyday that passes, our counterterrorism capabilities around the Gaza Strip are growing stronger,” said Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman
The decision to build an upgraded naval barrier was decided upon after five Hamas frogmen (naval commandos) tried to infiltrate Kibbutz Zikim during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
Armed with automatic weapons, fragmentation grenades and several types of explosives devices. They were engaged and killed by the IDF in a combined attack from the sea, ground and air.
Hamas has significantly expanded their naval commando unit in the four years since the last conflict, with a reported 1,500 frogmen and the new barrier, which has been designed to withstand severe sea conditions and serve the defense establishment for many years, is aimed at preventing similar incidents.
In February a senior Naval officer warned that Hamas was increasingly turning to the sea to carry out attacksagainst IDF troops and Israeli civilians, saying that “Hamas sees potential in the sea like they saw potential in their tunnels.”
In June the IDF discovered and neutralized, for the first time, a naval terror tunnel belonging to Hamas. According to a senior naval officer the Navy knew about the tunnel for several months before it was destroyed on June 3rd by an air strike.
The tunnel, which was operational but did not actually extend into Israeli waters, would have enabled militants who would enter from a Hamas military post in the northern Gaza Strip to exit into the sea unnoticed, making it possible to carry out out terrorist acts against the State of Israel from the sea.
The border with Gaza is Israel’s most explosive and thousands of Palestinians have demonstrated along the Gaza-Israel security fence since March 30 with at least 157 killed by IDF fire and thousands more wounded since the “Great March of Return” began.
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