The Children of Gaza’s Tunnels
The Israeli-imposed blockade on Gaza is helping the smuggling tunnels flourish, with many children choosing to work in these tunnels out of necessity despite the danger.
Inside a long corridor less than two meters wide, a dim ray of light sneaks through a small opening at the top of the basement where a border tunnel begins. A Palestinian child named Mohammad enters the tunnel in Gaza and walks thousands of meters in the dark to the other end, in Egypt.
Dozens of Gaza's children repeatedly pass through these “crossings of death” — the tunnels separating the border between Egyptian Rafah and Palestinian Rafah. They do so because they are poor. They do so despite the danger that the tunnels might collapse. Lately, Egyptian security forces have been flooding the tunnels with sewage.
The tunnels are a way for the people of Gaza to get essentials, which are being otherwise prevented from reaching them by Israel’s seven-year-old blockade. According to local estimates, it is believed that 10,000 people work in the tunnel business.
The causes
