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R/£ Fearful Palestinians abandoning tunnels
November 20, 2009 Edition 3
RAFAH, Gaza Strip: 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. About 100 people have been killed in the past year.
The number of tunnels, which had reached 3 000 a year ago before a three-week Israeli military offensive, now stands at several hundred. And of those tunnels, workers said just 150 were functional.
Highlighting the risks faced by the tunnellers, Israeli warplanes carried out two strikes along the border with Egypt yesterday, wounding three workers, according to medical workers.
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. - Reuters
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