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Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions in the Gaza Strip expect the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to attack their tunnels with some type of nerve gas or chemical weapon under the surveillance of United States Delta Force commandos as part of a surprise attack, a senior Arab source told the Middle East Eye (MEE) on October 25.
Israel and the U.S. hope that the surprise attack will help them strom the tunnels, rescue an estimated 220 hostages, and kill thousands of Hamas fighters, the source said, noting that the information they received came from a leak originating in the U.S.
“The plan hinges on the element of surprise so as to decisively win the battle, using internationally forbidden gasses, particularly nerve gas, and chemical weapons. Large quantities of nerve gas would be pumped into the tunnels,” the source said.
The source added that the U.S. Delta Force, which is currently deployed in Tel Aviv city, will oversee “large quantities of nerve gas being pumped into Hamas tunnels, capable of paralyzing the bodily movement for a period of time between six and 12 hours.
Most nerve gasses can kill in anywhere between one to ten minutes by crippling the respiratory center of the central nervous system and paralyzing the muscles around the lungs. Symptoms of exposure to the agent include nausea and violent headaches, blurred vision, drooling, muscle convulsions, respiratory arrest and loss of consciousness.
“During this period, the tunnels would be penetrated, the hostages rescued and thousands of al-Qassam soldiers killed,” the source said.
Hamas and other armed factions have built a vast network of tunnels under Gaza. The network allows Palestinian fighters to store and shield weapons, gather and move underground, communicate, train, launch offensive attacks, transport hostages, and retreat without being detected by the IDF.
Israel has signed but not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Several reports indicate that the IDF maintains an arsenal of chemical weapons.
In 1983 a report by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency stated that Israel, after “finding itself surrounded by frontline Arab states with budding CW [chemical weapons] capabilities, became increasingly conscious of its vulnerability to chemical attack… undertook a program of chemical warfare preparations in both offensive and protective areas… In late 1982 a probable CW nerve agent production facility and a storage facility were identified at the Dimona Sensitive Storage Area in the Negev Desert. Other CW agent production is believed to exist within a well-developed Israeli chemical industry.”
There are also speculations that a chemical weapons program might be located at the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) in the city of Ness Ziona.
190 liters of dimethyl methylphosphonate, a CWC schedule 2 chemical used in the synthesis of sarin nerve gas, was discovered in the cargo of El Al Flight 1862 after it crashed in 1992 en route to Tel Aviv. Israel said the material was non-toxic and was to have been used to test filters that protect against chemical weapons. The shipment was from a U.S. chemical plant to the IIBR under a U.S. Department of Commerce license.
In 1993, the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment weapons of mass destruction proliferation assessment recorded Israel as a country generally reported as having undeclared offensive chemical warfare capabilities.
Furthermore, former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense responsible for chemical and biological defense Dr. Bill Richardson said in 1998 “I have no doubt that Israel has worked on both chemical and biological offensive things for a long time… There’s no doubt they’ve had stuff for years.”
MEE said that it had reached out to the White House and the Defense Department for comment but did not receive any response.
The report came after The Wall Street Journal revealed that Israel had delayed its planned invasion of Gaza to allow the U.S. to deploy a dozen air defense systems at different bases across the Middle East.
However, MEE’s source believe that the delay is just misinformation aimed at gaining the element of surprise in a multifaceted attack that will include Israeli commandos landing in northern Gaza and along the coast. The operational details of the attack have already been agreed upon, according to the source.
The use of chemical weapons by the IDF in Gaza will pose a serious threat to the lives of more than two million Palestinains living there, even if it was done on a very limited scale. Such an act will be an unprecedented escalation by Israel, one that could lead to an all-out war in the Middle East.
