At least 9 killed in cave-ins this week
Photo: AP
2 killed in Gaza tunnel collapse
Days after seven people Palestinians were killed in explosion in smuggling tunnel between Strip, Egypt, medics say two more die in tunnel collapse
Two Palestinians were killed on Thursday when a smuggling tunnel linking the Gaza Strip to Egypt collapsed, medical sources said.
At least nine people have been killed this week in cave-ins and other mishaps in the vast network of tunnels between Egypt and Gaza used to smuggle food, goods and, according to Israel, weapons and explosives.
Over the past three years, 127 people have died in the tunnels, according to Iyad Abu Hujaier of the Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (PCDCR) which recently compiled a report on the tunnels.
Israel and Egypt have kept the impoverished and densely populated Gaza Strip sealed off to all but essential humanitarian goods since the Islamist Hamas movement seized the territory from its secular Fatah rivals two years ago.
Israel heavily bombed the network of smuggling tunnels during its 22-day offensive against Hamas at the turn of the year, but many tunnels were quickly redug.
