Amid cash-flow problems and the lack of a comprehensive IDF work plan, the US will operate four new concrete plants along the Gaza border, aiming to fill deep tunnels and build a massive US base.
The United States and Israel are moving forward with plans to establish four additional concrete plants in the Gaza border area to meet growing demand for sealing Hamas tunnels in the Strip and constructing a massive military base intended to serve the International Stabilization Force (ISF). The enormous quantities of concrete required for both projects have created the need for the additional plants. The current system is operating amid cash-flow difficulties. The concrete plants shut down every week because of budget problems, dramatically affecting the continuous effort to seal the tunnel routes. In fact, it has emerged that the Israel Defense Forces has no comprehensive, structured work plan for sealing all the tunnels discovered in the Gaza Strip, and operations are being conducted according to ad hoc budget allocations.
As part of the preparations to transfer responsibility for operating and financing the plants to the United States, workers at the existing concrete facilities have already been informed that, for payroll and management purposes, they will become employees of the US administration overseeing the project. Thousands of kilometers of tunnels built and used by Hamas remain in the Gaza Strip. Some are still used by the terrorist organization's military wing, and hostages were held in several of them. It should be noted that the Americans are not making the operation conditional on a transition to Phase 2 of the 20-point plan, since it is not considered reconstruction but rather the filling of tunnels located in territory under IDF control.
The tunnel-demolition method is based on pumping liquid concrete under high pressure directly into the underground route. For example, engineering forces pumped more than 30,000 cubic meters (about 1.06 million cubic feet) of concrete into the massive tunnel in Rafah where the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin was held. An additional tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip was sealed using 20,000 cubic meters (about 706,000 cubic feet) of sealing material pumped through a dedicated pipeline system several kilometers long. (Ed note: Build a massive US base over all those tunnels? By the way, Hamas still hasn't been disarmed, President Trump.) (Read More)
