WarSclerotic

A naval barrier meant to starve off Hamas infiltrations from the sea is nearing completion, seven months after Israel began the work.

The 200 meter sea barrier is made up of three layers including one below the sea level which is lined with seismic detectors and other tools, a layer of armored stone and a third layer in the form of a mound. In addition to the three layers, a six meter (20 foot) smart fence surrounds the breakwater in order to provide a final security measure.

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 hundreds of frogmen. 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.

The border with Gaza is Israel’s most explosive, hundreds of rockets fired towards southern Israel and nine months of violent protests along the Gaza-Israel security fence with Palestinians launching incendiary aerial devices and throwing explosive devices towards troops.

Thousands of Palestinians have taken part in the protests known as “Great Return March” which began on March 30 which has also seen naval flotillas from Gaza try to cross into Israeli waters. Over 220 have been killed and thousands more wounded by IDF fire.

Last February a senior Naval officer warned that Hamas was increasingly turning to the sea to carry out attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians, saying that “Hamas sees potential in the sea like they saw potential in their tunnels.”

In August the IDF destroyed a naval terror tunnel belonging to Hamas which 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 route of the tunnel, which was operational but did not actually extend into Israeli waters, reached a depth of 2-3 meters and was 3 kilometers from the border with Israel, was identified by the IDF as part of a campaign against Hamas’s naval force in the past year.

The tunnel was destroyed on June 3rd by an air strike which was part of the IDF’s retaliation to the barrage of mortars and rockets from the Gaza Strip by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Also on Tuesday, the IDF and Defense Ministry decided to expand the Gaza fishing zone. The move was reported by Ynet news to be in response to the relative calm on the border.