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Israel, Egypt squeeze Gaza tunnel business
Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:41am EST
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By Nidal al-Mughrabi
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Fearing loss of life and money, Palestinians are abandoning tunnels that supply the blockaded Gaza Strip with everything from food to fridges to weapons.
On the Gaza side of the border with Egypt, there is little activity in an area that was once as busy as an industrial zone.
Many tunnel workers have concluded that the risk of being buried alive by Israeli bombardment and accidental ground collapses or poisoned by gas pumped underground by Egyptian security forces is just not worth it. Around 100 people have been killed in the past year.
"Most of the people closed their tunnels and left," said Abu Mohammed, a tunnel builder who declined to give his full name and covered his face with a red and white Arab headdress.
The number of tunnels that had reached 3,000 a year ago before a three-week Israeli military offensive now stands at several hundred. Of those, workers said just 150 are functional.
It is unknown how many weapons tunnels are functioning.
Highlighting the risks faced by the tunnellers, Israeli warplanes carried out two strikes along the border with Egypt on Thursday, wounding three workers, medical workers said.
"The situation is very bad. The Egyptians and the Israelis stepped up their campaign," Abu Mohammed said. "Israel bombards from air. Egypt either pumps gases that kill people, pours water or detonates explosives to destroy the tunnels," he said.
The tunnels, some of which have existed for decades, have become a vital supply artery for Gaza since 2006 when Israel began to restrict the flow of goods into the enclave after the Hamas Islamist group won a legislative election.
With Egyptian help, the blockade was tightened in 2007 when Hamas, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist, seized control of Gaza.
Ahead of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival later this month, the remaining tunnels have been bringing cattle into Gaza ready for slaughter. Forty animals were brought through the tunnels overnight, workers at one tunnel said.
Though Israel has allowed thousands of cattle into Gaza for the holiday, the tunnel workers said there was still demand for the hundreds they were supplying from Egypt.
INCOMES FALL
Food, electrical goods and even cars, sliced into four parts and reassembled in Gaza, have been brought through the tunnels. They have also been an important supply route for construction materials restricted by the blockade.
Israel restricts the entry of materials it says could be used for military purposes by Hamas. It launched the offensive with the stated aim of halting rocket fire from Gaza and says militant groups there use the tunnels to supply weapons. Continued...
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