Israel uses ‘sponge bombs’ on Hamas tunnels
Dominic Nicholls
LONDON: Israel is preparing to use novel ‘‘sponge bombs’’ in its fight against Hamas through the network of tunnels under Gaza.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has been testing the chemical bombs, which contain no explosives but are used to seal off gaps or tunnel entrances from which fighters may emerge. The IDF has not commented on the use of the sponge bombs, which create a sudden explosion of foam that rapidly expands and then hardens.
Its soldiers were seen deploying the devices during exercises in 2021. The army has set up a mock tunnel system at the Tze’Elim army base near the border with Gaza.
Troops face a bloody battle through the tunnels known as the ‘‘Gaza Metro’’ when they launch their expected ground invasion. The network is thought to be hundreds of kilometres long and dense with traps. It is where Hamas has taken many of the more than 200 hostages and where its leaders will hope to survive the coming war.
The sponge bombs would prevent soldiers being ambushed as they move further into the network, sealing off gaps through which Hamas could attack.
Contained in a sturdy plastic vessel, the specialist devices have a metal partition in the middle separating two liquids. Once this barrier is extracted, the compounds mix as the soldier positions the ‘‘bomb’’ or throws it further ahead.
Specialised teams in the engineering corps have been grouped into tunnel reconnaissance units and equipped with ground and aerial sensors, ground penetrating radar and special drilling systems to locate tunnels.
They have also been issued with special equipment to see when underground.
There are potential complications with the underground arsenal, however.
The sponge bombs – technically a liquid emulsion – are hazardous to work with, and some Israeli soldiers have lost their sight through mishandling the mixture.
Micro-drones for reconnaissance, capable of being held in the palm of a hand, may also be used but will similarly suffer as the radio signal weakens.
The Israel-based Roboteam technology company has developed IRIS, a small, throwable drone that can be driven on large wheels via remote control.
Known by special forces as a ‘‘throwbot’’, it relays images back to a controller, operating the device from a position of safety.
Some devices can have weapons attached so that if enemy combatants are seen, the controller can detonate explosives.
John Spencer, a former US major who chairs urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, says subterranean fighting is ‘‘more like fighting underwater than fighting in buildings’’.
‘‘Nothing that is used on the surface works in the same way or with the same efficiency underground.’’
Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation in Australia and the US, has integrated underground warfare into its overall military strategy.
Tunnels, some started decades ago, are integral parts of a wider plan to prepare the ground for ambushing Israeli forces above.
Many stretch under civilian structures, with entry and exit points in dwellings and other nonmilitary buildings, making it extremely difficult for Israel to attack them without inviting international condemnation.
The Telegraph, London
Dominic Nicholls served for 23 years in the British Army with operational deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans and Northern Ireland.
The Age
Canberra’s call for a pause to war rejected
Matthew Knott Foreign affairs correspondent
TEL AVIV: An Israeli MP has forcefully rejected the Australian government’s push for a humanitarian pause to hostilities in Gaza, with a leading member of the Knesset declaring it the equivalent of pressing the United States to supply terror group al-Qaeda with funding and fuel after the September 11 attacks.
Describing Israel’s war with Hamas as one front in a global ‘‘clash of civilisations’’ pitting democracies against dictatorships, Sharren Haskel said her nation expected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to visit Israel as soon as possible following Hamas’ attacks on civilians living near the Gaza border.
A rising star of Israeli politics who spent eight years as a vet in Sydney’s Bondi, Haskel sits on Israeli parliament’s foreign affairs and defence committee.
In an interview in Tel Aviv, Haskel hit out at Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s call for a ‘‘humanitarian pause to hostilities in Gaza’’ to allow for the delivery of food, water, medicine and other essential supplies into the besieged enclave of 2.3million people.
‘‘Try and imagine that after the 9/11 attacks America was asked to supply fuel money, food and medication to al-Qaeda. Never,’’ she said.
The international aid, however, is not being supplied to Hamas, but to the population of Gaza whose ongoing need for supplies has intensified because of the war.
Israel has accused Hamas of stealing petrol from the United Nations refugee agency in Gaza and using it for military infrastructure.
‘‘So, I’m sorry, you cannot ask from Israel to supply Hamas with those things.
‘‘And that’s while Hamas has hostages in captivity, whose lives depend on how quickly we do this operation as well.’’
The United Nations, the United States, United Kingdom, European Union and Canada have also backed calls for a humanitarian pause.
Speaking at the UN in New York, Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said: ‘‘How can you agree to a ceasefire with someone who swore to kill and destroy your own existence? The proportional response to October 7 massacre is the total destruction of Hamas.’’
She said Israel would not bomb the delivery of any supplies passing through the humanitarian corridor at the Egypt-Gaza border and would comply with the Geneva conventions on warfare.
Asked during a press conference in Washington whether he was seeking a phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu, Albanese said the Israeli prime minister was extremely busy and that a phone call with his Australian counterpart would not be at the ‘‘top of the list’’.
Haskel said she found it ‘‘heartbreaking’’ that some pro-Palestinian supporters in Australia have been chanting antisemitic slogan during demonstrations.
Haskel said Israel’s war against Hamas was not merely a ‘‘territorial war’’ but ‘‘the start of that clash of civilisations’’.
‘‘We’re going into a wider conflict,’’ she predicted. ‘‘It’s going to take a long time; it’s going to probably include a few fronts. Countries around the world need to decide which side are they on: the side of radical Islam or the side of the free world and democracies.’’
Describing the atmosphere of shock and national unity that has taken hold in Israel since the attacks, Haskel said: ‘‘The seventh of October has changed everything. Nothing will be the same after this war, as well.’’