Gazans hope Egypt will ease clampdown on smuggling tunnels
By Avi Issacharoff
Haaretz
Aug.14, 2012
Last week's terror attack in Sinai, which claimed the lives of 16 Egyptian soldiers, prompted the authorities in Cairo to clamp down on the smuggling tunnels connecting Egyptian Rafah and the Gaza Strip. Dozens of bulldozers arrived at the Egyptian side of the Philadelphi Route and began demolishing tunnels. On the other side, Hamas closed the tunnel entrances, at least for the time being.
For around 70,000 Palestinians whose livelihoods depend on the tunnels, it is a severe blow.
Ibrahim, a Rafah resident, is worried. For the past four years he has owned a tunnel used for transferring merchandise. Hamas' decision to shut the tunnels on the Palestinian side has seen his source of income collapse. "They closed everything after the attack. Three days ago they let open them again for 24 hours, in order to let our goods pass through, but then they told us they will be closed again," he said in a phone call from Rafah.
The precise number of tunnels is unknown. Palestinian and Arab media estimate there are 400 tunnels, while Ibrahim believes the actual number is closer to 500. A senior Egyptian official told Haaretz he estimates that some 1,200 entrances exist on the Palestinian side, but they serve no more than 350 tunnels. This means brisk business.
"There are 30 workers or more in each tunnel," Ibrahim says. "Every worker earns around NIS 100 a day. How will their families survive?"
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