JERUSALEM - Israel is to build an underwater security barrier on its coastal border with the Gaza Strip in a bid to prevent infiltrations from the sea by would-be Palestinian attackers, security sources said Friday.
The navy-built barrier is expected to stretch nearly one kilometre (about half a mile) out into the Mediterranean Sea.
The first 150 metres will be a concrete wall with its foundations buried into the seabed near the northern Gaza Strip. A floating metal fence will then stretch for another 800 metres, according to a report in the English-language Jerusalem Post.
The barrier "consists of elements that are above and below the water level," a security source told AFP.
"In order to provide protection for the Israeli homefront and in order to prevent infiltrations of terrorists via the sea, the navy is establishing a security system which will help stop such infiltrations and alert the security forces," the source said.
The source claimed a study had found that the barrier would have no adverse environmental impact.
When the Israeli military pulls out of the Gaza Strip later this month, it will lose a naval base in southern Gaza, which is home to a vast surveillance system. Some have speculated that the impending base loss provided the impetus for Israel to announce the underwater fence project.
Israel is currently building a massive barrier across the West Bank in what it also says is a bid to stop attacks. The barrier has been hugely contentious because it often juts into Palestinian territory, leading to accusations that its real intent is to pre-empt the final borders of the Palestinians' promised future state.
A security fence which was built a decade ago across the Gaza Strip has prompted little criticism as it largely follows the internationally-recognised border with Israel.
Israeli security forces say they have foiled a number of attempts by Palestinian frogmen to enter the country by swimming from Gaza.
In one of the deadliest incidents in Israel's history, 32 civilians were killed in a bus attack in March 1978 that was carried out by a Palestinian militant cell which had landed on a beach near Tel Aviv in a dinghy.
Three civilians were also killed in 1979 by Palestine Liberation Front fighters who had infiltrated Israeli waters from Lebanon and beached their rubber dinghy in the coastal town of Nahariya before breaking into a nearby apartment.
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