- 16 oct 2010
Tunnel workers hospitalized after inhaling solvent
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Six tunnel workers were hospitalized on Saturday after inhaling paint thinner as they transferred goods inside a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border in Rafah, a medical spokesman said.
Gaza medical services spokesman Adham Abu Simiyya said the workers suffered from suffocation after breathing in the solvent and were transferred to the Abu Yousif An-Najjar Hospital in the southern Gaza district of Rafah.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=324590 23 jan 2012, 19:47 , Respect -
Maria 17 oct 2010
Smuggling Cows Into Gaza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuOYKRhRWP4 -
Maria 21 oct 2010
Palestinians fear more serious stage of Egyptian steel wall
GAZA, (PIC)-- A giant crane in Egypt near the Salahuddin Gate on the Gaza-Egypt border is steadily embedding giant steel plates into the earth, even though Palestinians can penetrate the plates. But authorities have a hidden agenda behind the massive sheets.
The Egyptian steel wall project funded by the U.S. has neared its end as five centimeter thick, 20 meter deep, and 11 km long steel plates split the Egyptian city of Rafah from its sister city in Palestine.
Rafah mayor Issa Al Nashar said Egyptian authorities have been working night and day since early October to plant the steel plates under the Salahuddin area, the only region where the steel wall has not yet been erected.
Nashar told Quds Press: When Egypt began building the steel wall, the border was divided into three stages, and it is now in the last stage, and we believe they will finish at the end of the year at the latest.
Expressing concern over another stage to come after the wall is posted, the mayor said: If they carry out the project to pump Mediterranean Sea water under ground on the border, it will have disastrous effects not only on the tunnels, but on the underground water and life in the Gaza Strip in general.
As the last stage of the wall approaches, Palestinian experts fear Egyptian authorities will pump water from the Mediterranean through horizontal plastic pipes which will transport the water to perforated metal pipes stretching more than ten meters into the earth, where the water will be irrigated to loosened soil, and tens or possibly hundreds of tunnels will collapse.
The pipes have been embedded in parallel with the steel wall which will acts as a buffer to prevent the salt water from leaking into the Egyptian side of the border, according to one Palestinian security official and several tunnel owners.
A Palestinian official, preferring anonymity, told Quds Press: The danger is not in the wall's construction, but in the stages that follow that.
The project to pump the Mediterranean Sea water is more serious, because it will cause destruction to most of the tunnels, he added.
The official went on to say that Egyptian authorities are expected to kick off the water pumping project early next year.
http://bit.ly/bg0Rm6 23 jan 2012, 19:48 , Respect -
Maria 26 oct 2010
Two Palestinians Killed By Power Surge in Rafah Tunnel
Palestinian medical sources reported that two Palestinians were killed on Monday evening due to a power surge at a siege-busting tunnel in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
The tunnel, one of many across the border with Egypt, was used for smuggling food supplies and other basic materials into Gaza.
The two were identified as Mousa Mohammad Suleiman, 20, from Jabalia, and Mohammad Zu'rob, 20, from Khan Younis.
The bodies of the two residents were moved to a hospital in Rafah.
Approximately 150 Palestinians have died and dozens were wounded in similar accidents along the border.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59747 23 jan 2012, 19:48 , Respect -
Maria 28 oct 2010
The Gaza Tunnels: A Special Investigation
Muhammad Othman - Gaza Strip - Translation by PNN - In the network of alleyways and catacombs in the Gaza strip there lie a thousand stories of suffering people broken by division and siege.
They rely on sayings like the ends justify the means or necessity is the mother of invention." This is what defends their humanity against a bitter history. But it also explains the phenomenon of the Gaza tunnels, which some exploit to get rich quick as the government does nothing to stop them.
Proven Greed
The Israeli blockade has been in effect in the Gaza Strip for four years, forcing Palestinians to find solutions to the resulting hunger and unemployment. The phenomenon of tunnel-digging, which allows families in the Strip to smuggle in goods from Egypt, has grown to include everything from food and medicine to cement and cars. But these tunnels end up hurting the people who need them, exploited by greedy traders with market monopolies who resort to smuggling illegal drugs.
Thanks to government silence there has been no legislation introduced to combat the smuggling, while human rights organizations working in Gaza accuse the politicians.
The Gaza tunnels contribute partly to break the siege, but sometimes the money flows to the traders and tunnel owners has nothing to do with the siege. Government deducts a portion of the smuggling profits, leading to some unprecedented social mobility.
The money, however, can be wasted at any moment. This is what happened with Salah, one of the Gazan youths who began digging the tunnels four years ago when operations began, and now owns one. He made a lot of money, but began to get greedy and started digging more tunnels, whereupon he lost everything he had gained from the original project. He didn't spend in accordance with his daily work instead, with his new wealth he bought luxury cars and built mansions.
The tunnel princes don't come from any particular social class, but anyone with a few thousand dollars can try to be one. Some choose the so-called charitable system, in which one may contribute monetarily to a tunnel before its completion while others offer to dig a tunnel for free, then cooperate with the owners to take an agreed-upon percentage of the profits.
Despite the lack of accurate statistical information about the tunnel princes, daily numbers are said to be in the thousands of dollars, split between distributors, owners, and partners most of whom do not want to disclose the nature of their work.
The Princes and the Poor
In contrast to the tunnel princes there are those like Hisam, a government worker who makes about two thousand shekels a month (about $550). That amount of money is only good for the first third of the month, however, given the obscene spike in prices for goods smuggled through the tunnels. He is like most of the 1.54 million people in the Strip (Palestinian Center for Statistics, 2010) a far cry from the new royalty.
The exploitation is not limited to price spikes. The tunnels also lead to material shortages and unemployment and create extremely dangerous working conditions. Statistics from the Gaza-based al-Mizan Center for Human Rights indicate 24 tunnel workers were killed in accidents between the beginning of the year and August.
Umm Mansour al-Batniji, 60, suffered from the goods shortage alongside her family. Her family began to work in the tunnels in 2009 and they started to see some material gains. But the relief would not last long her three sons Mansour, Na'il, and Ibrahim were killed by an Israeli bomb planted in one of the tunnels. Impoverished in both family and money, she was left with one son to become the family breadwinner.
The tunnel owner said, I will think of your dead children as my own, says al-Batniji. But he continued to build the tunnels and didn't give us a thing.
Al-Batniji says she is scared for the future. The government in Gaza used to give every family of at least six people a basic monthly salary for Ibrahim's family there was 600 shekels ($165), for Na'il's 700 shekels ($185), and for Mansour's 800 shekels ($215). And even that was not enough for absolutely everything.
http://bit.ly/97Thj4 23 jan 2012, 19:48 , Respect -
Maria 2 nov 2010
Egypt seizes load of bricks bound for Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) Egyptian security forces in Rafah took control of two tunnels near Rafah they said were used for smuggling goods into Gaza, security sources told Ma'an on Wednesday.
Forces went looking for the tunnels following a tip they received around plans for smugglers to bring a load of bricks into the Gaza Strip.
With a continued ban on the entrance of construction goods for private building projects, materials like bricks and cement are unavailable to the public, restricted to the use of international aid agencies.
Egyptian security said the tunnels were located in the Al-Brazil neighborhood of Egyptian Rafah. They added that the bricks were seized and taken to a warehouse in Egypt.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=312498 23 jan 2012, 19:48 , Respect -
Maria 3 sept 2010
Egypt: 1 migrant killed trying to enter Israel
An Egyptian security official says border guards fatally shot an African migrant and arrested two others trying to cross into Israel.
The official says the guards fired warning shots Friday before shooting the migrant dead along Egypt's border with Israel in the Sinai peninsula. Two Sudanese migrants were arrested while dozens of others fled.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3949013,00.html 23 jan 2012, 19:48 , Respect -
Maria 4 nov 2010
Egypt shuts down tunnels along Gaza border
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Egyptian security forces took over 16 tunnels and quantities of smuggled goods on Thursday.
During the operation, a suspected Egyptian smuggler was seized in possession of weapons in the Rafah border area, officials said.
Intelligence officials said iron and food were among the supplies seized en route to the besieged coastal enclave.
http://www.maannews.net 23 jan 2012, 19:48 , Respect -
Maria 13 nov 2010
Gaza tunnel worker injured
GAZA (Ma'an) -- A 40-year-old worker was seriously injured Friday when a tunnel collapsed in Rafah in southern Gaza, medics said.
Gaza medical services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiyya said the man was transferred to the Abu Yousef An-Najjar hospital for treatment.
Since 2006, 154 tunnel workers have been killed and many more injured, Abu Salmiyya added.
Underground tunnels running between Gaza and Egypt have provided a lifeline to residents of the Strip during Israel's four-year siege of the coastal enclave.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333358 23 jan 2012, 19:49 , Respect -
Maria 14 nov 2010
Official: Egypt not doing enough to stop smuggling
Intelligence official says Hamas now has rockets with 80-km range, putting Tel Aviv at risk of attack.
A senior Israeli intelligence official says Hamas has rockets with a range of 80 kilometers, putting the coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv within range of its launchers.
The official blames Egypt, saying it is not doing enough to stem smuggling through a network of tunnels along the relatively short border between its Sinai desert and the Gaza Strip. The official said most of the tunnels were concentrated in an area no longer than 4 kilometers.
"Egypt can stop all this smuggling of weapons within 24 hours if they want to do it," the official said Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity under Israeli security regulations.
The official said, however, that intelligence cooperation with Egypt was otherwise effective.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3984495,00.html 23 jan 2012, 19:49 , Respect -
Maria 21 nov 2010
Air Force bombs Gaza tunnels
IDF retaliates again for phosphorous shells, mortars fired at Negev communities earlier Friday.
The Air Force bombed smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip Friday night, and direct hits were identified, the IDF said in a statement. No injuries were reported.
"The strike was carried out in response to the rockets and mortar shells fired at the western Negev over the past day," the statement said, adding that the army was holding Hamas responsible for the attacks
Palestinian sources reported that the Air Force bombed two targets in the Gaza Strip Friday afternoon, after four phosphorous bombs were launched into Israel along with three mortar shells.
The sources say six people were injured in the strikes including two women and a child. An unoccupied building in Deir al-Balah collapsed upon being hit, and two other strikes took place in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. Sources say one of the targets there was an Islamic Jihad training facility.
Three of the shells hit open areas in the Eshkol Regional Council, and the other four - fired an hour later - landed in open areas in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
The Popular Resistance Committee's Salah al-Din Brigades claimed responsibility for the fire, saying it was a response to recent assassinations in Gaza.
The escalation in the south follows the assassination of two senior members of the al-Qaeda affiliated Army of Islam group by the Israel Defense Forces earlier this month.
Abu Mujahed, a PRC spokesman in Gaza, said that "the firing by Palestinian organizations from the Gaza Strip is part of our right to respond to the Israeli crimes and the recent assassinations."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3987110,00.html
Israeli jets bomb Rafah tunnels
Israeli warplanes have attacked the tunnels under Rafah in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded by Israel since 2007.
Palestinian officials said Israeli fighter jets destroyed two tunnels connecting the town of Rafah to neighboring Egypt in an airstrike on Friday night.
No casualties were reported in the attack on the tunnels, which were used to bring in much needed goods.
Earlier in the day, Israeli jets struck two cities in the besieged Gaza Strip, medical sources told a Press TV correspondent in Gaza.
Four people, including two women, were injured when an Israeli plane targeted a home in the central town of Deir al-Balah.
A separate Israeli airstrike on the southern town of Khan Yunis lightly wounded two people, one of them a child.
No other details on the attack in Khan Yunis have been reported.
In another incident on Friday, Israeli gunfire wounded a 22-year-old Palestinian as he collected gravel near the border in northern Gaza.
About 70 Palestinians have been injured and two killed while gathering building materials at the border since the end of the Gaza war in January 2009.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/151691.html
Inhabitants of Egyptian Rafah demand end to IOF shelling of tunnels
RAFAH, (PIC)-- Inhabitants of the Egyptian border city of Rafah have asked their foreign ministry to pressure Israel into desisting from further shelling of tunnels on the borders with Gaza Strip.
The German news agency DPA said that the inhabitants left their homes and gathered in streets and public squares at a late hour on Friday and at dawn Saturday fearing injury with shrapnel resulting from Israeli occupation forces' (IOF) shelling of the tunnels area on the Palestinian side of Rafah.
It quoted individuals as expressing dismay at the IOF repeated raids on the tunnels, adding that the sounds of explosion and flying shrapnel were causing panic in their town.
They recalled that a number of casualties were inflicted in lines of the town's people over the past two years as a result of the smashed windows.
They also asked the Egyptian government to demand compensations for the material losses they sustained during the Israeli war on Gaza especially in their farms.
IOF warplanes launched a series of raids on southern Gaza Strip over the weekend.
http://bit.ly/9Svecs 23 jan 2012, 19:49 , Respect -
Maria 26 nov 2010
Egypt seizes 14 tunnels along Gaza border
AL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Egyptian forces seized 14 tunnels on the border between Egypt and Gaza on Thursday, Egyptian security sources said.
Two tunnels were seized in As-Sarsuria, where large quantities of paint and iron pipes were found, and a further 12 tunnels were found in Abu Halawa south of Salah Ad-Din, sources said.
Egyptian forces are preparing to close the tunnels.
Tunnels have provided a lifeline to residents of Gaza since Israel imposed its blockade on the coastal enclave four years ago. Residents began digging a network of underground smuggling routes to transfer goods barred from import by Israel, among them construction materials.
In response to US and Israeli pressure to curb smuggling, Egypt began constructing a steel wall along its border which is scheduled for completion by the end of 2010
Egyptian security sources said more than 650 tunnels have been seized this year, 16 of which were used to smuggle cars.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336218 23 jan 2012, 19:49 , Respect -
Maria 2 dec 2010
Muhammad Kaware 25
Gaza man dies inside Rafah tunnel
RAFAH (Ma'an) -- A man was killed Thursday morning by an electrical shock inside one of the tunnels in the Rafah district of the southern Gaza Strip, medics said.
The young man was identified Muhammad Kaware, 25, from the city of Khan Younis, 20 kilometers away from the tunnel site.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338257 23 jan 2012, 19:49 , Respect -
Maria 8 dec 2010
IDF bombs Gaza tunnel, weapons cache
Army says strike a response to rockets, mortar shells; no injuries reported in Strip.
The Israel Air Force attacked a weapons cache and a smuggling tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday night. The Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Office said all targets were hit. There were no reports of injuries in the strike.
The army explained that the attack was a response to the firing of rockets and mortar shells into Israel in the past two weeks, saying it viewed Hamas as solely responsible for the situation in Gaza.
On Monday, the Color Red alert systems detected a rocket fired at the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council. There were no reports of injuries or damage. Residents were ordered to enter fortified rooms and reported of a faint explosion sound.
About three weeks ago, Palestinian gunmen fired a Grad rocket at the Ofakim area, as well as two Qassam rockets and seven mortar shells at Gaza vicinity communities all in one day. Some of the mortars contained phosphorus. The IDF bombed smuggling tunnels in response, injuring six Palestinians.
After a second strike, Hamas members fled most of the organization's headquarters and bases in the Strip for fear of another Israeli attack.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3995988,00.html 23 jan 2012, 19:49 , Respect -
Maria 8 dec 2010
Message from Gaza Tunnels
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5jttKHT0Mw