The Wall Street Journal has reported, citing US officials, that Israel had assembled a system of pumps that could be used to flood Hamas tunnels.

Around the middle of November, Israel’s army completed the set-up of at least five pumps about a mile north of the Al-Shati refugee camp that could move thousands of cubic meters of water per hour, flooding the tunnels within weeks, the report said.

It was not clear whether Israel would consider using the pumps before all hostages were released, according to the story. Hamas has previously said it has hidden captives in “safe places and tunnels”. Reuters could not verify the details of Monday’s report.

When asked about the story, a US official said it made sense for Israel to render the tunnels inoperable and that the country was exploring a range of ways to do that.

Israel has not made a final decision to go ahead or rule it out, the officials were cited as saying. Israel’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.